


Spirit of Rain

by Aki_The_Shiftless



Series: Weather Patterns and Constellations [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: (maybe for you too), Gender Neutral, I legit have a chat dedicated to giving me memes, I'll add more if it becomes relavent, Other, Self Restraint issues, This is gonna be fun (for me), This my senior year fic so I'm putting all the jokes, also a little bit of angst here and there, everyone makes references, gender neutral reader, gender neutral reader as always, gotta balance it out, i kid you not, meme referencer!Reader, memelord Reader, this is so much crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 04:05:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15900543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aki_The_Shiftless/pseuds/Aki_The_Shiftless
Summary: Rain invokes plenty of emotions in our very human and emotionally prone selves. Some are pleasant- some not nearly as much. And sometimes- some people just have the worst luck.Or is it the best?





	1. Anger

Chapter 1, Anger

* * *

 You clicked your tongue in annoyance, your head tilting as you starred to side at the empty apartment. The boxes piled high- and very much damaged.

It was a bad day.

A no good very bad day.

And it was about to get ultimately _worse._

With the water damage, you just hung your head. It was early in the morning- you had school- and you couldn’t afford to be late. Regardless of whatever unfortunate circumstance you found yourself in, so you shook off your sleepiness from working all night. Waddling over to the sink and the newly assembled, newly brewed coffee- and promptly swallowing the pure black coffee and actually _feeling_ the buzz of caffeine run through your veins.

You shook your body, shuddering before taking a deep breath- and shoving yourself out the door.

* * *

 

Domino High was like your average High School. And like every school- there was a hierarchy.

Hanging around for a couple years, you could best figure that the highest of that social hierarchy was actually located in your class.

The most well-known was the duelist circle people- Mazaki Anzu, Hiroto Honda, Katsuya Jounouchi were among those.

Then there was the highest of even the higher tiers- Muto Yugi and Kaiba Seto. Respectively the top two duelists in the entire flipping world.

You didn’t talk to them- they were a tight-knit group and you usually always kept to yourself at school. With the amount you work you did after dropping out of your usual way of earning money- you rather not have to deal with whatever questions might come up.

Then again- it was a bad day.

The boxes being damaged had put you in a sour mood but it wasn’t too bad. With a little work, you could recover most of your clothes and the really important stuff was already out in the apartment.

But then as you had walked to school- a gutter had decided to conveniently release its load from the rainfall a few hours earlier- right on top of your head.

You seethed for a few moments before shaking your head and continued walking.

With some work, you managed to get your hair mildly presentable, then when you reached for your train pass- you had forgotten it at the apartment.

You cursed- but you got out money and bought a ticket. It was _fine,_ you just couldn’t _eat_ for a couple of hours because you had used your lunch money. You willfully ignored the fact that you had skipped lunch and dinner the night before due to moving so quickly.

Then the train was crowded- resulting in you pressed up painfully against the window as you struggled to move for an elderly gentleman who needed the seat more than you did.

With a particularly _loud_ individual yelling in your ear for the next six minutes- you were ready to snap and punch the kid in the throat.

So yeah- you were having a bad day.

A no good very much _bad_ day.

By the time you walked through the halls to your class- you were tired, hungry, and very irritated. So it really was only a matter of time before you snapped and blew up on someone. 

You just didn’t expect it to be _him._

Among everyone in the school, you tried to avoid _him_ the most. Of course- he usually kept to himself. More often than not- he usually didn’t come to school at all. It was _great._ You didn’t even have to associate with him. Didn’t have to see him- didn’t have to get pissed off at him. And when he did show up- you never even had to talk to him since Katsuya would usually start something and then the guy would be stuck with the others. Second verse- same as the first.

To be fair- you weren’t exactly paying attention. There was a lot more on your mind, and people didn’t usually walk in the _opposite direction._

But no- _o_ this was _him_ and he usually gets what he _damn well wanted._

You blinked as you walked into a wall of solid freaking _muscle,_ stumbling back and blinking owlishly at a broad chest before looking up to see a very scowl-y expression. Or at the very least an expression that clearly conveyed annoyance, irritation, and a general view of incompetence of all those who looked upon it.

Said Mr. Scowl had the gall to grunt, “If you have the time to be pathetic, I suggest you put your energy into something more productive. Like making yourself less _incompetent.”_

Your immediate reaction kicked in whenever someone pissed you off, your face drew back into a snarl of your own, your tired mind sharpening for the briefest of moments with a caffeine-induced clarity. Even though internally, you were screaming for yourself to stop.

“ _Duel me,”_ You growled. “Then we’ll see who needs to work on their incompetence.”

_Oh god no! Fuck- Deny it deny it! I’m not worth your freaking time Mr. Boy Billion. Just reject it!_

“Tch,” He replied easily. “As if I would waste the energy just to watch you lose. I rather not waste my time.”

_Yes! Now walk away-_

You gave yourself over to a smirk, “Bold of you to assume that I give a shit.”

_OH MY RA **WHY????**_

His gaze sharpened slightly, losing its haughtiness and turning into something more serious, “Bold of _you_ to assume that I would care.”

_Shit I’m fucked._

“Second verse- same as the first~” You drawled, slanting your hips and putting your weight on one leg. You were dead anyway, might as well die going all in. “What’s wrong Kaiba? I was _so_ sure that you could come up with a better comeback than that. Or perhaps _you_ are the one who requires a self-analysis of your intelligence, all those days dealing with so-called incompetence might catch- wouldn’t want to have that now, _would we?_ In that case-“

You stepped aside in preparation to walk again, internally screeching at yourself to _stop holy shit what the fuck-_ “I’ll excuse you for not wishing to duel- I’m sure your health is far more important than some measly duel. Wouldn’t want the future of gaming to lose himself to _dullardry_ of all things.”

People whispered- because you _may_ have more or less had decided to speak in English. The  
“Bold of you” meme just didn’t work out so well in Japanese. Which- you didn’t care anyway, you were more concerned with the fact that you just _dissed **Seto Kaiba.** _

“Fine,” Kaiba’s expression had turned stoically cold. “I’d think you’d have enough self-respect not to cry when I shatter that ego of yours like cheap glass. But I think I’ll even _beg_ to differ.”

You stood on your tip-toes and leaned up against him nose-to-nose, “Then **_beg_**.”

You were so- _so_ dead.

* * *

 

It took approximately five minutes for your current state of mind to catch up with your actions about what you had just done, which- you silently applauded yourself- but at the same time. _Why._ _Why did I decide to dis **Seto** fucking **Kaiba**. _

“Dude,” said just about your only friend in Domino High, transfer student Anguis Shinku. Bright crimson hair curled up in odd places as he leaned into his hand. “I have to give you props, iconic.”

“Death comes for me,” You muttered under your breath.

“Too dank to live, too rare to die,” Anguis agreed readily.

“I think that meme is backwards Crim.”

Anguis gave you a look, “Give me a break, I’m working on the fly here. I need to give you a mighty time before you go off and kick the bucket.”

You sighed as you dragged your feet towards your classroom, aware of your imminent demise after school, “If you don’t use a Ouija board to update me on memes Crim- I will legitimately _haunt you._ ”

“Dude- on my honor as your one and only best friend- I will update you on the memes _and_ the number of times Yugi Muto beats Kaiba with a fuzz ball.”

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not a good friend Crim.”

“Alright alright- memes aside,”  Anguis walked faster in front of you, walking backwards. “Are you gonna be alright? I mean- you haven’t dueled in what, four years?”

“Two technically speaking,” You replied. “I broke my dueling celibacy when Pegasus held that private contest.”

“Still. Going up against Pegasus two years ago was one thing. But you’re dueling Seto Kaiba. He’s at the top of his game, _and_ you pissed him off.”

“You say that like I care if I end up squished under his janky _bants,_ ” You grunted. Which- it really wasn’t why, you didn’t care if you ended up a mere bug on that guy’s weird boots; pants? What you really cared about was the fact that your age-old duelist pride was going to _force_ you to do anything and _everything_ in your power to win. (Except cheating- cheating is lame as hell and this isn’t a fucking drama.) Which would mean summoning _it._ “I know I probably won’t stand a chance Crim- but I will try. The bed’s made, just gonna have to lie in it. I’m just hoping I _don’t_ get a good hand.”

“You’ll probably stand some resistance right? I mean- you’ve been playing that card for _years._ I’d think you’d have dang near every move under the sun memorized when it comes to summoning it. I’m sure you’d be able to deal without bringing your ace to the game.”

“Anguis, as a duelist _specialized_ in the new synchro summon method, you out of all people know that I can’t predict _everything._ Besides, I’m pretty damn sure Kaiba made a couple of new cards _just_ to make more ways to fuck people over.” You shook your head in disbelief. “Card games on motorcycles. I never would have thought. It’s a vehicle law violation somewhere- probably in the United States. It’s _always_ the United States.”

“…”

“What?”

“You’re not gonna say _‘back in my day’_?”

“ _Anguis._ ”

* * *

You barely registered your actions as you faced off against Kaiba in front of the school. A crowd of people- Muto and his gang at the forefront and watching next to Anguis and some other duelist that you recognized from the other class. Your duel disk was secure on your forearm as you easily slid your deck into the slot. The familiar movements of grabbing your hand with a flourish vaguely registering as you allowed muscle memory to take over.

Neither you said a word as your motions spoke with intensity, but the moment you looked at your hand.

You couldn’t help but smile mournfully, because you were _so_ going to be dead by the end of this duel.

You’ve always been fond of dragons, they were your older sister’s favorite stories to tell you when you were younger and couldn’t sleep a wink at night. Her favorite dragon to talk about was one particular dragon with eyes as blue as the sky and scales as white as snow.

The same card she had sold off for your sake before losing her guardianship over you.

You mentally shook yourself from the memories, relaxing into the mindset of a duelist. Carefully analyzing each card in your hand and mentally recounting what cards you _did_ have still in your deck.

It wasn’t _the most_ ideal hand, but you weren’t going first either. So you could work with it.

There was a weird intensity on the field as silence reigned. With a flourish of his own hand (how…how did he do that without _breaking his fingers?)_ he began his turn, and the dance began.

With the finesse of an experienced player, Kaiba set a card face-down before summoning one of his more iconic cards: Battle Ox. With an Attack of 1700 and Defense of 1000, this slightly complicated things- but not to a ‘I’m screwed’ extent. The issue is that the trap or spell card could potentially throw your entire plan into the blender. Regardless, you were going to go for it.

The field was silent as you drew a card, a silent chuckle overtaking you before you shook yourself out of your brief amusement.

You summoned Vanguard of the Dragon, a lifesaver in many situations previous. With its 1700 attack and 1300 defense, it was a match for Kaiba’s battle Ox. However, it was the card’s effect that made this card the savior of dragon decks.

With Vanguard, you could send one dragon type card from your hand to add an additional 300 attack with an additional effect that can prove useful against other dragon decks.

Kaiba seemed to anticipate this as his eyes narrowed at you, watching as you sent another card from your hand to the graveyard.

This was a risky play considering that it had the possibility of making him _absolutely_ pissed off, but against Kaiba- the quicker you pulled out your ace cards, the better you were going to be later on the game. Even though you totally were going to _die_ when it finished- but again. Duelist pride. It was one _hell_ of a motivator.

“I then activate its effect,” You called out calmly. “Since I had sent the White Stone of Legend into the Graveyard, I can add one Blue Eyes White Dragon monster from my deck to my hand.”

You can feel the intensity of the crowd grow heavier as you subtracted your deck from the slot. Seeking out the card that was going to change your life forever.

But damnit- you weren’t going to lose to Kaiba lying down.

If you recalled correctly, Blue Eyes supports were relatively useless to everyone else considering that Kaiba held _all_ of the blue eyes white dragons. Except the one you won from Pegasus of course.

“I attack Battle Ox.”

Kaiba starred at you unflinchingly even as battle ox was sent to the graveyard.

Oh you sensed pain, pure and hellish _pain_ in your future. Especially of the interrogation type.

Kaiba drew a card, setting one in defense before setting another card in defense. Moving the turn to you.

You swallowed. That meant that Kaiba had got not only a bad hand, but no ideal top draws. It sucked but this game had always been a lot of strategy and a little luck.

You were going to be _flailed alive_ after this you could feel it.

You summoned _Kaibaman_ to your side of the field, initiating its effect and tributing it for the Blue Eyes you had just drawn. Throwing blue eyes to eliminate the face-down card and having Vanguard attack Kaiba directly.

The field was tense, disbelief and shock in the air among the crowd as they stared at the Blue Eyes Card in your side of the field. Summoned from _your_ deck.

Briefly, you wondered if planning your funeral was a good idea. Because although the crowd was electric with shock, Kaiba was pissed off. You could tell in his eyes that he was pissed beyond belief, and that didn’t sound good considering that your deck gave you a decent hand and a good top-draw.

The turn passed, Kaiba initiated his trap to bring his own blue eyes to his hand. Another card set in defense mode. The turn moving to you.

Swallowing against the choking atmosphere, you drew.

You brought out Rider of the Storm Winds to the field, ignoring its equip piercing effect and initiating synchro summon.

Kaiba watched with narrowed eyes as your Blue Eyes was replaced with Azure, roaring across the virtual field it’s admittedly 500 less attack glory. Which wasn’t much considering you were exclusively putting Azure in defense.

Azure-Eyes Silver dragon was a request your sister had made when she had won the contest for Pegasus allowing the creation of one card into the game before it was passed to Kaiba. Right when Synchros were rumored to be the next archetype after the fusions.

Azure was one hell of a support for Blue Eyes Ultimate, but regardless- it was a beast on the field if you protected it properly.

You reckon that it was also the only Blue Eyes support that Kaiba knew _nothing_ about. Which was going to be one _hell_ of a conversation if you lived past the initial interrogation.

You regretted your temper. You wished you went to anger management classes like your sister said you should have gone. This could have all been avoided if you just apologized and moved on after bumping into the asshole. No conversation needed.

But in the name of Ra- you promised your sister that whenever you dueled you’d give it everything you got. You weren’t about to break that promise just because some guy was gonna so _kill_ you after this.

You sent Vanguard after the face down. A crawling feeling on your back that you weren’t going to win this duel.

As soon as you saw Kidmodo Dragon on the field, you knew you were screwed. Because Kidmodo had an effect that when it’s sent to the graveyard, it allows for the special summon o any dragon type monster currently in your hand. And Kaiba just drew his own Blue Eyes.

You had one plan that could possibly save your ass, but you were hoping that he was too pissed to realize it.

As soon as the turn ended and he got rid of your vanguard (reasonable since you could actually power him up to match blue eyes in attack) your turn began- and the standby phase threw things together.

Azure-Eyes Silver dragon was your sister’s idea, she had wanted more support for Blue Eyes since she liked the card so much. So- that being said, she had Pegasus create this card. One of its effects included a Lord of D-esque effect that didn’t’ allow any dragons to be affected by card effects. Its other effect was to bring back _one_ normal monster from the graveyard to the _field._

And guess what you had just synchroed off to bring Azure out?

With Blue Eyes on the field, you summoned an additional 1800 monster. Switched Azure to attack mode, destroyed the Blue Eyes with your own, and then hit him with a 4300 total attack. Ending the duel.

There was silence on the field before you took a breath.

“Well,” Eyes snapped to your direction as you spoke, clearing your throat. “Bye!”

You had never sprinted so fast in your _life._

* * *

 

_A/n: Alright. Guess who's back? //song plays and ends// ANYWAY. This fic is new. It's gonna have angst. It's also gonna have a lot of stupid jokes. But bear with me- it's my last year of high school and I need a shit ton of catharsis and this happens to be it._

_And the fact that Kaiba is saying things in memes makes me laugh too. That being said- this fic is sort of an almagamate of crack and serious fic. Most of the plot and secret things are hidden in the crack. See if you can figure out the big story here. Otherwise- I hope this got a laugh out of you!_

_Fun fact: I actually didn't know who was gonna win the duel. It would have worked out either way so I just took out the set legendary duelist pack for Kaiba took my own deck and dueled against myself. My deck ended up winning since- as said in the story- I had a good hand. Kaiba would have still had trouble if he targeted Azure Eyes instead of Vanguard since my hand had an extra two dragons to push the attack up higher than his Blue Eyes._

_Anyway- hope you enjoyed this first chapter, have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_

 


	2. Dread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rain brings an ominous feeling, dread. 
> 
> Then again, you might have been biased because of the situation.

Chapter 2, Dread

* * *

 

 You had been holed up in your apartment for the past two days.

You didn’t go to school- you had called them saying that you were in no shape to go to school after getting inflicted with a very suffering cold. Croaky voice and all (which- no, it was just a mild cold at best) and you had not gotten out of the room ever since you had sprinted your way here. Barricaded the door with the ruined boxes, and proceeded to retreat into your sparsely decorated, windowless room.

Though the steady thrums of raindrops kept you mildly stable, anxiety still ate through your attention as you flipped the cards on the floor one by one.

Types: Monster, spell, Trap.

Sub categories: Normal, Effect, Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, Token. Normal, Continuous, Equip, Quick-play, Field, Ritual. Normal, Continuous, Counter.

The organization piles went further, but you allowed the steady simple thinking and the heavy rain outside the apartment lull you into the task.

Your arm was sore from running wildly while still wearing the duel disk, twinging as you moved. However, the matter was irrelevant considering _who_ exactly you were running away from. You even refused to open up your laptop or smartphone for fear of initiating _something_ that would lead to the door banging. Going so far as to _remove the power cell from the Duel disk_ which the instructions specifically said _not_ to do. Damn it though- you were desperate. And scared. And just dreading the next few days in general.

Thankfully you had an additional two days to hide out in your room that was slowly beginning to pile with instant ramen noodles and bottles of water, you personally thanked your sister for being one paranoid person and teaching you to _always_ stock up on food on a weekly basis. Or additionally- whenever there was extra money. It meant that with little to no reaction (and there absolutely _would_ have been something) you may or may not have been in the safe zone.

You moved over to your older phone, booting it up and quickly dialing up Anguis’ number.

_“DUDE! Where **were** you? You haven’t been to school for like two days!” _

“I know I know!” You hissed. “I’ve been hiding out man!”

_“Well I mean- I get it, Kaiba was asking about where you **lived** a yesterday and I have never been more grateful that you never actually told me where you moved.” _You heard the fake-redhead sigh. _“Still- are you okay? Cause it kinda sounds like you’ve **never** left the house since the duel.” _

“…I uh-“

_“HAVE YOU BEEN STUCK IN YOUR ROOM FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS?! HAVE YOU EVEN EATEN?!”_

“Hey- _hey!_ The risk I took was calculated!” You could _feel_ the judgment in Anguis’ expression through the _phone._

“ _Dude_.”

“Okay admittedly I am _not_ very good at math- but that’s not the point!” You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose between your fingers. Some of the pressure relieving somewhat with the action. “Oh Ra- why would he give two figs about this anyway? He has _three_ blue eyes white dragons! I have _one!_ And the only reason why I even have the damn thing is because I _won it from **Pegasus.**_ ”

_“Oh I don’t know- maybe because as far as he knew he either owns or has since **destroyed** every existing Blue Eyes known to the Duel Monsters world?” _

“He _did_ do that didn’t he? Wow. What a dick.”

_“Dude- you- are you sure you’re the same person who’s been avoiding the motley bunch plus Kaiba for three years now? Because it’s not sounding like it.”_

“Sorry- I think it might be the ramen. I’ve eaten nothing but instant ramen for the past two days. Ramen and water. Water and Ramen. Rame-“

_“I get it.”_

“Well since you’re so sensible, I think I’m just gonna hole myself up in here for two more days.”

_“Okay- you know I love you platonically because well-“_

“You have an eye on crab-man I know, but do go on.”

_“But you really can’t stay there for four days.”_

“Yes I can.”

_“No you can’t- you’ll go crazy.”_

“Bold of you to assume I have not already gone _insane_.”

_“…Are you…are you organizing your cards again?”_

You paused as you looked on your floor, cards strewn about in neat piles, “…Nooo?”

_“You hesitated.”_

“No, I am not organizing my cards Crim come on.” It was a lie, a dirty dirty lie, but not like he would know it was anyway.

_“Oh for the love of the Crimson Dragon- I am coming over.”_

“No, you are _not_ ,” You hissed into the phone. “I’m not giving you where I _live_.”

_“Yeah…about that_.”

You caught that little admittance, your mind rolling in overdrive about what could _possibly_ make Anguis Shinku, the most talkative, occasionally annoying person you have _ever known_ (except when faced with Crab Man) pause like that. Because the man was a master smartass, you could count on one hand how many times you’ve gotten him to hesitate like that. They all involved Crab man being nearby.

Instantly- you came to one, very much _logical_ conclusion. As well as the worst case scenario, but if you were wrong (and by Ra you hoped you were wrong) it was easy to make your way up the list.

“ **Anguis**.” You said carefully, rolling each syllable in your tongue. “Where exactly are you? In fact- _who_ exactly is in the room with you.”

_“Okay look- to be fair I was really anxious about where you went since you basically dropped off the face of the earth-“_

“ **Anguis. Shinku,** ” You spoke carefully. “ _Who.”_

_“Kaiba,”_ He squeaked.

“SHIT,” You threw the phone off somewhere towards the bedding, leaping up and out the door. Slamming your body against the only entrance to the apartment along with the boxes in front of it just as the door began moving inward.

“I. Am. Not. Letting. You. In!” You gritted, pushing your weight against the boxes.

“Stop. With. Your. Stupidity!” A familiar voice grunted from the other side of the door. “ _Roland!”_

“Fuck- plan B!” With a yelp you threw yourself into a sprinting start- running into your room and slamming the door and turning the deadbolt. Pushing your desk in front of it- which wouldn’t do much good but it will slow him down.

“Don’t be an idiot I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“Yeah- well I admit I’m not the smartest but I ain’t _that_ stupid!” You grunted from the other side of the door. “What do you want anyway?! Cause I am _not_ giving you _my_ Blue Eyes nor am I giving you Azure! I won that duel fair and square!”

“I don’t _want_ your pathetic cards.”

“Oh my god that is the worst lie I have _ever_ heard they are _Blue Eyes,_ ” It came out in a half growl as you pulled at the knob to keep it shut. _Where_ the hell did he even get the damn keys?! “You paid _half a million **American dollars** _ just so you can take it off my sister’s hands! That’s totally bullshit!”

“…”

In that moment- the door stopped moving to open. The atmosphere going from tense to ominous dread in a few milliseconds as silence overtook the room. You could still vaguely hear Anguis yelling from the other side of the phone from where you had tossed it.

“Your sister was the White Duelist?”

You rolled your eyes, _“_ Duh. Very wow. Much surprise.”

“Open the damn door.” His tone shifted, more serious than before and frankly, it was a little terrifying. 

“ _No.”_

“I _will_ break this door open.”

“And you will _pay_ for it!”

You only had mere moments to hear the wood creek before you hastily stepped away from it- the door opening _slowly._

“I’ve been had,” you muttered, breathless as you pressed yourself against the wall. Suddenly sagging down as the fear and adrenaline seeped away from you. Tiredness left in your bones as you wearily watched the man significantly taller than you step into your room.

You starred as he took a glancing look at the trophies and medals set up almost obsessively organized in a shelf near to the window. Few yours, most of which were your sister’s, ice sliding across the floor to the organized piles of cards in several types. A stark contrast on the otherwise gray boring carpet.

“You _are_ going to school tomorrow.” He said after a moment of silence, his voice seeming to echo in the small room.

You narrowed your eyes at him, “Alright- let’s just assume that I’m gonna go ahead and do whatever you tell me to. Fat chance by the way- what’s so important that you give a shit whether I attend school or not?”

Kaiba sighed, crossing his arms and looking down on you in that familiar way that you assumed was his default expression, “While you were gone our English literature teacher assigned partners for the project.”

You vaguely recollected her mentioning it but- “We’re in the same damn class? I don’t recall your name on the roster.”

“I had better things to do.”

Rolling your eyes was more instinctual than anything, “Right. Sorry, forgot that you were the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.”

“…I’m going to pretend you didn’t keep the sarcasm out of that deliberately.”

“Do what you want- I’m not the CEO here man.” While on the floor, you raised both hands up in surrender.

“You’re awfully compliant for not wanting me here ten minutes ago.”

You glared at him for that, throwing your leg out to see if you get something on those ridiculously white pants of his, “I just accepted this loss Kaiba, you’re not winning the war.”

“You say that as if you have any chance of winning.”

“I won our duel didn’t I?”

His expression turned stony for a moment before flat-lining again, making you grin visibly as you touched a nerve. “Just a battle won from luck. By the time this war is over, you’ll realize that a pathetic thing like you never had much of a chance against me.”

You rolled your eyes at that, “Right- if that happens I will declare my profound and undying love for you, asshole.”

* * *

 

You rubbed your thumb against your nose as you looked down on the paper. The terrible, terrible dinosaur of a paper.

“Why- _why_ in the name of the Blue Eyes White Dragon do we have to do fucking _Romeo and Juliet?_ Why can’t we do Edgar Allen Poe? Ed’s a great guy! Full of murder and psychological thriller that we can really sink our teeth into! Why the hell do we have to write a paper on how Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teenage hormone ridden, fucking _stupid ass_ melodramatic _dullards_ who wouldn’t know duty even if it got shoved up their asses?!” You hissed, pacing in the small living room even as Kaiba awkwardly sat on your couch. Watching in mild amusement at your outrage. “Or if it had to be fucking _Shakespeare_ why couldn’t it be Macbeth? Or hell, _Hamlet?!_ Literally _anything_ would be better than this shit- I’d rather examine _Fifty Shades of fucking Grey_.”

You paused, throwing Kaiba considering look, “…Na- I’ll skip the fifty shades and just go with straight up H.P. _Lovecraft_.”

Kaiba sneered, “As if our situation is even _remotely_ similar to that poor excuse of a story about BDSM.”

“The fact that you know about Fifty Shades is something that is very concerning Kaiba.”

“You have no room to talk considering you _brought it up_.”

“And it was the worst accidental decision I made in the second year of High School, I blame my stupid self’s stupidity and lack of reading summaries before reading books. What’s _your_ excuse?”

“Marketing research.”

“ _Oh Ra_ that is the _worst_ excuse ever.” You scowled and crossed your arms at him. Back ram-rod straight and shoulders back. “Give me a better one.”

Kaiba scowled right back before he turned, arms crossed, “…”

“Come _on,_ ” You urged, raising him an eyebrow with a lopsided- if slightly _insane_ grin. “You’re a billionaire CEO. You don’t like anyone doing your work for you, and you don’t tend to waste your time on anything that would be useless. Though beats me why you’re hanging around me right now- Fifty Shades of Grey is a five-hundred-and-fourteen paged erotica that is a woeful representation of the nature of BDSM and its details. There are _fanfiction_ that is a better representation of the sexual practice. If you ignore the BDSM details, that leaves the erotica. However, given your socially superb aesthetics, your intelligence, and your economic standing you should have no trouble acquiring a live experience if you so wished. So what’s the deal?”

“…”

“I’ve had a total of three hours of sleep in the course of two days you really should have realized that I would be off my fucking rocker.”

“Most people wouldn’t be that _talkative_.”

“It’s a health condition. I used to have insomnia as a kid and talking and reading is how I coped with it. Now spill.”

“First you wouldn’t let me through the door now you can’t shut your mouth, I can’t believe I actually wanted you to give me information.”

“Hello deflection, didn’t actually wanna see you right this minute but it’s good to see you.”

“I’m dreading the fact that I tried to get in this damn apartment.”

“So? So? I’m not gonna stop pestering you until spill the beans. Get the cat out of the bag. Blow the whistle. Give the game away. Take the lid off. To lay it all bare-“

“I _get it_. Now will you _stop_.”

“Psch- maybe.”

“Mokuba.”

You tilted your head, rolling the idea in your head for a bit, “So Mokuba got curious about the book, you read it to screen it- and bam. You’ve read one of the weirdest piece of popular literature in history. Alright.”

“But-“ you added. Tilting your head at him like a particularly curious velociraptor. “That doesn’t explain your fixation and change of subject.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You changed the subject and switched tactics the instant you found out about my sister. You knew her- and knowing _her_ she probably made you promise something before she took the money,” You tapped your finger on your chin. Thinking. “Protecting me? Nothing much to protect, I can handle myself. I’m decent on the money end too- it’s not like I spend much beyond cards and basic necessities. My insomnia only pops up when I’m really stressed out. So it’s something else, not you fulfilling whatever half-baked promise she cooked up.”

You zeroed in on his expression. It was too stony, stonier than normal, in fact, it was the same expression your sister had when she talked about someone that was out of her reach. Someone she-

Oh.

_Oh._

“ _Holy shit_ you _**liked** _ her!”

Kaiba’s expression went through a pretty fun myriad of shock to anger to reluctance to acceptance.

“You never pay this much attention in class, how the hell did you figure that out.” He grumbled, looking a little petulant but, for his pride, you weren’t going to mention it. You were also going to ignore the fact that he apparently knew how many times you tended to zone out in class. Horay selective memory. 

“You guys wear the same expression, it’s that kinda constipated look on your face combined with when you guys have to do something you really don’t wanna do.” You shrugged again, “and there was a maybe- 60% chance I was correct and your expression confirmed it. But hey- at least it makes sense.”

“How the _hell_ does it make sense to you?” Kaiba gruffed. Still highly defensive, if you were reading the whole 'crossed-arms and stony expression' right anyway. Was the stony expression his normal expression? You didn't usually notice but it's been the most common you've seen so far. 

“Sure it does. Like I said before: you’re handsome, intelligent, economically high standing and probably going to innovate the entire gaming industry as we know it. Why would you take such investment in coming here, hunting me down instead of- I don’t know. Demanding rematch duels outside my window? It doesn’t make sense.” You pointed a thumb over to where your room was, where the trophies were. Where you carefully organized and put back all the cards you had finished alphabetizing. “I learned how to duel from my sister, so our styles are similar. You probably recognized it and when we dueled and I think you wanted to figure out what the hell was going on. Hence- came here. Maybe I’m being extra but it’s the only non-meta theory I have that makes sense.”

“Nothing you _say_ makes any sense.”

You gave him a cheeky grin, “Does that mean you’ll leave me the hell alone to deal with the tragedy of us having to do an essay on Romeo and Juliet? I assure I’ve always secured results that you would view adequate in all my literary essays.”

“No.”

“Damn it,” If you were whining, you frankly could give less of a shit. You were going to annoy this asshole out of your apartment even if you had to turn up the insanity to the maximum.

You weren't sure _how_ exactly, but those were semantics you weren’t quite interested in investing in until you actually got the results you wanted. Which meant him- out. Preferably very _very **far** away. _Because any longer and you were going to start worrying about whether Kaiba wanted to get rid of you and that was a paranoia you were _not_ going to expose Kaiba to no matter how much he annoyed you. Things tended to get _conspiracy theory_ level when you got into it and you had enough pity in you not to expose that to _anyone_.

That and it was really weird that Kaiba was here because of your sister- that- you didn’t even _want_ to get into that right now. Your mind just wasn’t ready yet. Not on so little sleep.

“Don’t you have some business-y stuff to do? Go do that! Why stay here where there’s not even a television?” There _was_ a really decent computer and awesome Wi-Fi, and  _Netflix_  but it’s not like he would care about that anyway. “Come on- just leave me to this _shit_ and I’ll do some annotating and stuff. You probably have a lot of better things to do.”

“If that’s the way you write your analysis, I highly doubt you’d be able to meet my standard,” Kaiba said drily. “And no. That’s not how business works, I can work here just as well as I would in my office at Kaiba Corp. It’s due to this little wondrous invention called _technology_.”

“So- why are we still talking?”

“…”

You just gave Kaiba a shit eating grin.

“You’re insufferable.”

“I am aren’t I? You should probably go back home or something.”

“No.”

“Damn it.”  

* * *

_A/n: I've got nothing to say. So //drops this here//_

_I have to say, this is probably some of my best back and forth. I'm especially proud of the last one. Anyway:_

**_Dedications to:_ **

**_You the Reader:_ ** _Thanks for reading, have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_

 


	3. Delight

Chapter 3, Delight

* * *

 

You laughed as you walked in the rain, the busy people passing by and not even giving you a passing glance as you looked up into the clear plastic of the umbrella.

There were times where you hated condensation’s guts, mostly when you were in a rush and had no time to prepare for the onslaught of vertical H20 molecules determined to make every part of your body moist. Yet on the flip side, it was delightful. When you had waterproof shoes, adequate jacket protection, and an umbrella.

You were in the local park, idly walking around and avoiding deep puddles as you allowed yourself the pleasure of walking the shallower pools without getting wet. Without a worry in the world.

Except for that thrice-damned Romeo and Juliet essay- but you already obsessively annotating your printed out copy of the book (thank fuck for the internet) while also arranging three different thesis accompanied by body paragraphs and twelve quotes for evidence.

In the effort to obsessively attempt to avoid Kaiba at every instance, you may have gone overboard but you weren’t going to allow any chance of having to meet if you could help it.

 _Especially_ if you could help it.

So you just walked around, grinning like a loon in the park. Dark cloudy skies and pleasant sounds all around.

“Are you really that stupid?”

And good mood ruined.

_Great._

You flipped around, grinning at Anguis Liar Shinku.

“Oh _hello_ stranger! Hey- you kinda look like this one friend I used to have who sold me out _real_ quick.” You said, in deadpan.

“Don’t be so dramatic jackass, he threatened me,” Anguis said with a pout, arms crossed in the black windbreaker plus hood on to get most of the water drops. “Besides- you survived right?”

“Psch,” You rolled your eyes. “No. For some reason he’s decided to more or less stick around. He has me as a partner in our literature class.”

“Wait- _what_?” You’d take a picture of the fake-red-head’s expression if you weren’t too lazy. “You- but he _always_ does the partner things solo. Usually with some business meeting excuse or whatever.”

“Something about my sister apparently, he _liked_ her,” You parroted with a childish pitch. Extending the vowel slightly to add more effect.

“That’s-“ Anguis pursed his lip. “That’s fucking awkward.”

“No shit Sherlock,” You said dryly. “I finished my half anyway and emailed it to him, so he shouldn’t have any reason to bother me at the moment.”

“Still- crazy to think. Kaiba doesn’t tend to waste his time on anything,” Anguis muttered. “I mean- he’s as selfish as a business guy has to be right? So it’s pretty weird that he suddenly cares about something not Kaiba-Corp, Mokuba, or beating Yugi.”

“Exactly what I’m trying to figure out,” You responded. “But I’m not gonna share my theories with you _you egg_.”

“Oh my Ra will you forgive me for that thing already?! It’s not like he gave me much of a choice when he tracked my call- I didn’t even know you can do that!”

“ _Uhuh_ sure, so it had nothing to do with the fact that Kaiba was threatening you with Crab man?”

“… _How the hell did you find that out?!”_

You snickered, “I didn’t, it was one of four likely possibilities- and you just helped me figure out which was right.”

“Oh _fuck you_.”

“Psch- As if you would wanna try.”

* * *

 

You narrowed your eyes at the redhead, splashing rainwater on him, “Don’t you have a Crab man to stalk? Why are you here?”

“The chances of you doing something stupid without me is higher, so I’m here.”

You rolled your eyes, the pitter patter of the rain doing nothing to lighten your already _dampened_ mood. Irritation and exasperation coming _down_ in an excessive _downpour._

“I came out here to have a good time and honestly I don’t know why I’m feeling so attacked right now,” You muttered under your breath, throwing the red-head a glare for added effect.

“You’re _so_ funny,” Anguis threw back, hands deep in his pockets. “Besides what the hell are you doing out here in the rain? You hate getting sick.”

“But I _do_ like the rain, besides,” You motioned towards your form. “I’m perfectly dry right now dude. Besides look! Nice and gloomy, not too hot. But not bone-chilling cold, it’s the perfect time to enjoy the delight that is the rain.”

“Yeah- those two days have broken your mind for sure,” Anguis muttered. “I should have checked on you earlier.”

“Psch, don’t be such a sad sack Anguis, look around you,” You twisted on your foot to show the empty park. If you got water on Anguis from the twirl, so be it. “It’s as empty as a ghost town up in this joint. It’s delightfully empty, relatively quiet, and just _rain_.”

“Oh look, billionaire at four o’clock.”

“What?!” You twisted your foot again, this time your boots losing their grip on the wet pavement as you suddenly found yourself going vertical. The drops now falling on your face advocating as much as you mentally prepared yourself for a sharp pain on the back of your head.

A sharp pain that never came.

“What-“

“Are you _that_ much of an idiot?” Came a familiar hissing voice, confusing you even more as you felt yourself being shoved right side again. The tall tale pitter-patter of footsteps letting you know that you’ve been abandoned to the lighting breathing dragons. _Again._ “Who the hell goes to the park in the middle of monsoon season?”

You shifted yourself and mentally shook off the shock, looking at the billionaire in surprise as the man stood in the rain. The white trench coat, probably something expensive, taking the brunt of it while his hair was damp. Eyes oddly luminous.

While you never really liked to state the obvious unless it was for comedic purposes, he looked really good.

“I could ask you the same question,” You added, shifting your umbrella and raising your arm higher to account for the taller guest. You were trying to avoid him, not force him to experience the misery of getting sick. “I like the rain, and I’m adequately dressed for it. That leaves the inquiry of why are _you_ here.”

“You didn’t answer my email.”

“Dude- I sent you that email like, an _hour_ ago. Of course I wouldn’t respond right away- I wasn’t even my own home!”

“And you didn’t answer your phone.”

“My phone-“ You dug into your pocket with your free hand and pulled it out. The screen brightening automatically and revealing the _ten_ miscalls. You looked up at him over, the light illuminating your face from the bottom adding to the unhinged mood you were feeling at that moment. “Not even gonna question how you got my number- but seriously. What are you- my boyfriend? The essay isn’t due till next week and we’re practically sixty percent done. This level of paranoid communication is entirely unnecessary.”

“I don’t like to waste my time,” Kaiba growled back. “Unlike you, _clearly_.”

“I’m _relaxing,_ something I’m not quite sure you know how to do,” the scowl on your face was evident even as the phone tinged back to darkness. “Seriously- why the hell are you even here- _how_ did you know I was even here?”

“I’m _here_ because your stupidity for some reason thinks that going to the _park_ was a _good_ idea in the middle of the _pouring rain_.” The deadpan look he gave you was a strong indicator of how he felt about that. “And evidently- you don’t seem to have a single shred of common sense in that idled brain of yours considering that I just saved you a _trip to the hospital_.”

“Oh _please_ one fall on the cement is hardly one to warrant an emergency room,” your hand waved along with you. “It would have been a bruise at worst- maybe some bleeding and friction burn at best with a side of a _maybe_ concussion. Besides- why do you care? It’s not as if you can’t do the assignment on your own if you wanted to.”

“I’m _not_ doing all the work.”

“I wasn’t implying that you would!” Your hand shoved the phone back into your pocket, freeing it temporarily before you threw it back up again to accent your frustration. “It’s not like you can’t tell the teacher that the situation calls for a separation of our group, it’s perfectly reasonable and I wouldn’t begrudge you for it. I’m _perfectly_ aware of how stupid I can be, hence why I frankly think you’re being absolutely ridiculous!”

You huffed, your irritation ruining the delight you often experienced whenever it rained. The mood was gone, and it wouldn’t return until next rainfall. Which happened to be tomorrow but regardless, you couldn’t help but feel like you’ve been slighted. You mildly noticed the double negative, much to your irritation.

“Look- Kaiba,” You sighed, feigning defeat. “Whatever, just go back to work or something. At this rate you’re going to catch chill if you don’t get out of the trench. Here.”

You shoved the umbrella towards him, pulling the hood of your own jacket up at the same time and pulling away. A silent victory as Kaiba’s arm quickly moved to grab the freefalling piece of plastic. Allowing you enough time to walk away at a brisk pace before he even knew what happened.

Your rain day was cut short- but fuck, you took back what you said. You were freaking  _delighted_ now. His mixed look of irritation and simultaneous constipation was so priceless, you wished you had a camera. 

* * *

 

The rain helped you remember your sister better.

It wasn’t as if you didn’t have a picture, but sometimes pictures didn’t have a good way to portray the entirety of the subject’s personality. Or the way they laughed, or moved, or the way they would react to something.

All the pictures you had shown your sister, _The Duelist._ The _Parent._ The _Adult._ It never really captured your sister _The Sister._ Or the _Dork._ Or _the really bad cook._ Or the _really weird ass person who loved the color blue and liked standing in the rain for no good reason._

Once upon a time, you hated the rain. It got in your way and it made things inconvenient. You hated the oppressive pitter-patter of the drops as they landed. You hated the way it forced you to change clothes. Or made you wear the stupidly heavy waterproof clothes and shoes instead of a light t-shirt and a sweater. Or the way it would pull you from the things you were doing because it was so  _distracting._

But she loved it, so you just stayed quiet and handed her a towel when she came back inside. Nagging her to take a warm shower and change her clothes.

She was a handful, as were you with your weird habits and tendency to stay awake no matter how much you tried to go to sleep. But you wouldn’t change it for the world.

And you were pretty sure she wouldn’t change you either.

* * *

 

You jogged under the steady sprinkle of the rain the next day, humming along to the music playing in your earbuds as you jogged in a feeble attempt to clear your mind.

It didn’t work- but you were trying to get somewhere anyway.

You paused at last, chest heaving as you took a moment to take a deep breath and recover. Walking into the familiar turtle shell formation of the card store.

You hadn’t been there in months, but you figured with some saved up money, it was time to treat yourself to something. (It totally had nothing to do with the fact that a new card box had been released- nope.)

“Why hello again!” You smiled at the rather short man with familiar spiky hair.

You didn’t often interact with the highest of the hierarchy (Yugi + Co.) but you _did_ interact with one Solomon Moto. The most card game enthusiastic card seller you have _ever_ met, and you knew a _lot_ of card sellers these days.

“Hello Mr. Moto, do you happened to have-“

The elder man smiled and presented you with the box, filled to the brim with the next archetype for blue eyes supports.  
You may dislike Kaiba, but the asshole sure knew how to make supports for his favorite monster. 

“Yess,” You hissed out, walking closer to the counter as you pulled out your wallet. Hand already digging into your cash.

You walked out of the turtle shop with a happy grin even as the rain was significantly harder than it had been just minutes earlier. Monsoon season for you, but you frankly could give less of a shit all things considered.

Tucking the card packs into your trench coat pocket, you hummed as you lifted an arm to click the umbrella open with a brisk _snap_. The plastic _pitter_ and _patter_ making a pleasant background noise as you walked through wet cement. Other passersby walking through with considerably more urgency than you were, not like you were in much of a rush anyway. The colors of the bright signs street to street was enough for you to slow down just to admire them- or be tempted to take a look inside. 

You couldn't count on one hand how many times you've accidentally walked into an adult store because  _look! Pretty sign!_

“You are frustratingly contradictory.”

It was a slightly fascinating and horrifying moment when you suddenly realized that you were getting  _used_ to the conceited tone in his voice. 

“And I was having such a good day too,” You mused. Turning to your left slightly to eye the taller man who was wearing a white long coat so blinding- you almost grunted at how much light reflected off of it.

 _Why did he choose white? It's hard to dry clean no? White white, white like snow. White like Blue Eyes. I like Blue Eyes. He has Blue Eyes. **Focus.**_ “What do you want?”

“Nothing you have could possibly be anything I want.”  

“Well, we already established that I wasn’t going to give you my Blue Eyes, nor am I giving you my Silver eyes- so no. I don’t have anything that you _could_ want which would mean that this conversation is pointless at worst, superfluous at best,” You gave him a stink eye. “So- what _do_ you want?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Because I want inner peace,” Then you considered those words for a few minutes. “Never mind.”

“Are you realizing how idiotic your statement is?”

“No- but the path to inner peace is four words: I don’t fucking care.” You tried to walk faster despite the rather obvious difference in your pace length- seriously. How the hell was this man _that tall?_ Not that 6’1 was unreasonable but the man was more _leg_ than everything else.

_Long long legs. He looks like a giraffe. Giraffes have long and sandpapery tongues. Would he have a sandpaper tongue? Could I call him Kirin Kaiba? He's following. Long legs, long enough to catch up. Irritating._

And he kept up pace with you- _easily._ Which was far more frustrating than anything else you’ve ever had to deal with. 

_Maybe, ice cream. I really want ice cream. It's cold. But ice cream. BOBA! Kaiba. Kirin Kaiba. Heh. He's smiling. Creepy. Creepy creepy- but he looks nice. Bad bad. Annoying._

The other annoying fact was that he was _smirking_ just out of the corner of your eye. Just- waiting there. Testing your patience. Or well- waiting for you to blow up.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Nope. 

Absolutely _not._

You were going to keep hyperfocus, to keep your eyes on the prize. Heading the straight and narrow and making sure to keep an exact focus on the way home. 

_He looks really good today- he slept? Funky. Smirk is still annoying. He needs to smile more. But its creepy. Creepy because it's not smirking? Smirking means he's having fun. Smiling means he's an alien. Alien? He made an elevator to space- but Aliens don't exist. Or do they? Did Kaiba meet an Alien? I wanna meet an Alien._

Because you could ignore him- you were the _master_ of ignoring people. You could ignore everything-

_Ice cream?!_

You stopped.

In the heavy rain stood a mightier seller, standing tall against the downpour. Proud and mighty- selling _ice cream._

**_Ice. Cream._ **

**_Want._ **

**_Need._ **

**_NEEEEEED._ **

“Oh _hell_ yes,” You muttered under your breath, breaking into a spring in spite of the rain now falling into your hair and face. You skidded to a halt before the stall, panting from exhaustion and briefly sliding your hand on a dryer of your trench coat before digging it into your pocket.

You glanced at the price, “I’ve got 200 yen here somewhere-“

When a white trench clad arm moved in to your side, to which you smacked quickly.

_Irritating irritating. He needs ice cream. But not **my** ice cream. My ice cream is  **mine**. He needs to get his own ice cream. Not much of a sweet person. Too sweet hurts. Don't like too sweet. Vanilla? He seems like a vanilla guy. Vanilla tastes nice, vanilla is okay. Oh  **green**._

“Nope- my ice cream. I’m getting it myself.”

“What makes you think I was getting one for _you_ ,” Kaiba accused. The seller glancing between the two of you in curiosity.

“Oh sorry- one for yourself? Alright,” You held up 400 yen to the seller. “Knock yourself out.”

You turned back to the seller with a smile, “One matcha please, the other will be whatever Mr. Grumpy Pants over there wants.”

You nabbed your ice cream and threw a smirk over your shoulder before righting your umbrella- walking out.

“Enjoy the ice cream! Maybe it’ll help _obliterate_ that stick up your ass!”

You were snickering as you moved as quickly as you can to blend into the crowd. It was _so_ worth using your train money for.

* * *

 

You laughed to yourself as you closed the door of your apartment- throwing in the newly added and shiny deadbolt that would prevent future _visits_ in the near future. The look on his face was _amazing._

“Ah shit,” You muttered later as you crashed on the couch, your stomach grumbling unhappily at its owner. Contrary to the small smile of delight on your face, “the food rebels.”

* * *

_A/n:_ _Ehehehehehehe EHEHEHEHEHEHEHE This took a while, but it was great. I like dropping my little hints about what's actually going on with the reader. It's more obvious towards the end- can you tell what it is?_

_Note: When reader mentions "Kirin Kaiba" they're talking about 麒麟 which is pronounced "Kirin". It's Hiragana for Giraffe. Fun fact that I found out from watching Gakuen Babysitter- thank you zoo trip episode._

**_Dedications to:_ **

**_HibiscusMist:_ ** _I'm glad you like it! This was actually a spur of the moment decision when I was brainstorming plot ideas. And it rained. In **California.** I was like: "Yes. This is my sign." Which pretty much lead to the main plot coming from "Reader has a no good very bad day and Kaiba gets involved" then  **bam** all of a sudden there's a plot and some interesting traits that I'm curious if anyone will pick up on. THANKS FOR READING AS ALWAYS_

**_Polirange:_ ** _Honestly- like I said- I didn't really expect to win. The whole point of the duel scene was to get Kaiba to see that the Reader had a Blue Eyes. Which results in this chaos. Eheh. Also- Kaiba's face was pretty boring- his feelings, however- now **that** was funny. //smirk// ANYWAY THANKS FOR READING_

_**CodenamePhantom:** AND SOME INSANITY YOU SHALL HAVE. AND MEMES. MORE MEMES. I like memes, they're funny and witty and every now and then I'll make a meme reference and get smacked. Good times. THANKS FOR READING  
_

**__** _**Dianasaurus94:** Don't worry, I know nothing about tennis too. In fact- I don't really play physical sports. The only one I've ever liked was Badmington and I just enjoy hitting the birdie around. ALSO good catch on the language! Also feelsbadman. I'm an only child AND I'm not really the type of person people have crushes on- to my knowledge. I'm a dense person. It doesn't help that I bat for both teams so I'm just in my corner with sensible relationship opinions (annoying isn't it?) As for the reader's sister- well. There's more to the story than the reader knows //wink wink nudge nudge// A small hint would be: Virtual online computer duels pre-dates hologram duels in this AU ((think Duel LInks)). THANKS FOR READING AND I HOPE YOU ALSO ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER_

**_You the Reader:_ ** _Thanks for reading and have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_

 


	4. Confusion

Chapter 4, Confusion

* * *

 

You quietly slid next to Anguis as he was hunched over in his booth, quietly eating his ramen in the small shop as the weather outside reflected his miserable mood.

You feasted on your own meal, allowing the red-head to stew in his thoughts before you would shove him into talking about his feelings. Proverbially speaking- but that was not to say you wouldn’t shove him if you thought it helped.

The issue at hand of course- considered Crab Man. Infamous, infamous crab man. Good guy- but really _really_ dense.

Yusei freaking Fudo.

“I mean- it’s hard to be mad. Akiza is a really good person,” Anguis grumbled into his soup. “And they look really good together.”

You hummed.

“And it’s not like I have any right to say anything else,” Anguis continued.

You hummed again.

“Ugh- this _sucks_ ,” Anguis grumbled, shoving his finished bowl forward before smacking his head into the table in front of him.

The cook looked at the two of you, clearly concerned before you waved him off, mouthing, _“Love problems.”_

The cook nodded and went to the back- coming back out with ice cream.

“Here you go kids,” The cook said- feigning innocence. “I had extras.”

“Thanks.”

“Thank you.”

Anguis shoved the spoon into his mouth, still miserable.

“Anguis- look,” You sighed after a moment, your own bowl being taken up by the cook as soon as you finished and began on the ice cream. “I don’t know how to help you here. Romance isn’t my thing. But what I _am_ sure about is that there are _plenty_ of fish in the sea.”

“Sure,” Anguis grumbled. “But there’s only one of that particular fish.”

“Maybe. Maybe Yusei is like- the golden Crab or whatever, the King of crabs even. But no matter how pretty the pattern is or how big their claws are- a crab is a crab. There are other crabs,” You continued. “They might be smaller crabs, they might be bigger crabs. There might not even be a crab altogether. That- and I’m pretty sure Yusei hasn’t noticed that Akiza has feelings for him in the first place.”

“Your analogy was going _so_ well before you ruined it,” Anguis muttered under his breath. “And Akiza is pretty obvious. Even _Crow_ noticed. And Hogan has _never_ noticed these things before.”

“Yeah- but the important thing is _Yusei_  noticing _._ Nothing is set in stone Crim, you just need to swallow it down and deal with it,” You patted his back. “Don’t misunderstand that. I just mean that you need to get over your shit and just confess already. At worse- he rejects you. At best- maybe you’ll be surprised.”

_Hm, no more ice cream. That’s disappointing. That wood looks like a face._

“I mean- I _guess,”_ Anguis groaned. “I could make a letter and just- _leave it_?”

“ _No_ you’re gonna keep your feelings quiet until you die like the rest of us,” The sarcasm dripped in every word. “ _I_ don’t care about your method Crim- the one who should be concerned about that is _you_. No one else.”

There was quiet for a moment as he mechanically moved spoon to mouth and repeat. Mulling your words over with a visible pinch in his expression.

“I guess- _man_ I hate being an adult.”

“I know right? Such a hassle, paying taxes, getting your own groceries, dealing with your emotions.” You shook your head solemnly.

* * *

“I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. Have I mentioned that I hate this? Because I hate this,” Anguis babbled on the way to Yusei’s locker. A plain white envelope that the two of you picked from the local 100 yen store clenched tightly in his hands. Crimpling slightly.

“What the hell are you two doing?”

You didn’t even need to look as you flapped your hand towards Kaiba’s general direction, “Attempting to expose _feelings_ of the fluffy heart-clenching variety Kaiba. Might wanna stay off a little- you might _catch some_.”

Then you flipped your attention to Anguis.

_That lady’s blazer is crooked what the fuck._

“Anguis Shinku. Crim, old buddy ol’ pal old friend. You have no fear. Fear is nonexistent to you at this particular moment. You will stride in there with the confidence of a superstar- and walk out, you got this.” You pointed at him. “Fear? You don’t know her.”

“Pf- of course not. I’m just hyper aware of my imminent _doom_ via heart break,” Anguis replied sarcastically.

“Okay- _one fear_. But that comes _after_ you stick the damn thing in. Wait- how do you know the locker combo?”

_That guy’s shoes are dirty- that’s really fucking annoying._

“Um?”

“Okay…now I’m not sure if I should ask why.”

“He’s asked me to get his stuff for him before when he had to leave for practice. I just remember the combo now.”

“You sad, sad sack,” You murmured under your breath, casting your eye line over to Kaiba’s direction. “Can you believe this guy?”

“It’s scheduled to rain this afternoon,” Kaiba replied, stoically professional. “We should expect a dramatic scene in a few hours complete with rainfall covering tears of anguish and self-loathing.”

“Ignore him. He’s being Kaiba. It’ll be sunny and shiny and all will be well.”

* * *

 

It was _not_ shiny and sunny.

Kaiba gave you a look of ‘ _I told you so’_ as Anguis sat miserably under the open rain, your own umbrella keeping the two of you dry.

By own umbrella- you happened to be talking about the cheap plastic umbrella you had unceremoniously shoved into Kaiba’s hands the other day. Still serving its purpose- but you vaguely wondered why the billionaire kept it.

_Windy._

“Ugh,” Anguis sniffed. “Can the two of you just leave me to wallow in my misery for _five minutes?_ ”

“I _could_. Kaiba _would_. But I’m a better friend than you are and I don’t know why _he’s **here-** “_

“Personal investment,” Kaiba interjected smoothly with a very _bored_ look- much to your annoyance. _Why the hell was he here if he found it so boring anyway?_

“So if you’re going to suffer under the rain and catch a cold, I’m gonna wait out your five minutes of misery time before I forcibly take you to your apartment so we can crack open a box of ice cream and cake and watch disgustingly cute and dramatic BL anime for the next two days.” With an afterthought- you added. “Kaiba pays for our cake.”

_I want coffee cake. Where can we get coffee cake? Or Ube._

_Can we get a shit load of whip cream? Where’s the nearest bakery? Does the bakery have boba? I want boba. I’m hungry. But I ate earlier?_

_Taiwanese snow sounds good. Or halo halo. Hm._

“If you think _you_ are getting a bite from what _I_ paid for you are  _dead_ wrong,” Kaiba grumbled- just low enough that you were pretty sure you were the only one who heard it. And you were pretty sure that was exactly how he intended it. To which-  _ha_ you were more willing to sabotage yourself in a duel than to give up food. Food was  _food_. 

_Would he eat halo halo? Has he ever used a straw before? He seems like the type of uppity ass who doesn’t use straws.  
But straws are wasteful tsk tsk. How about those cookie straws? I want one. I want one in chocolate._

_Personal investment- does that mean he has a bet with Katsuya about the Anguis-Yusei situation? Everyone in our year knows about it, even blonde helmet man. That makes sense._

_I’m still hungry._

“It was a ploy to get you to go away- and seriously. We _finished_ our essay in class, what ‘ _personal investment’_?” You grumbled back.

“You sound like my Mom,” Anguis also grumbled- though far louder than the two of you were. “She won’t let me skip two days though.”

“She will once I talk to her,” You assured, smiling confidently.

“That is something I _never want to see_.”

“Yeah well- behold!” You threw your hands out dramatically. Not caring if the edges of your sleeve were growing damp with rain water. “The field in which I grow my fucks! Lay thine eyes upon it.”

You paused for the effect as Anguis confusedly frowned at you, the red tinge in his eyes emotionally unsettling as you attempted to lighten the mood.

“And see- that it is _barren_.”

“…”

Awkward silence.

_It was worth **so** worth it though._

“And to think I thought you weren’t capable of sounding even _more_ idiotic,” Kaiba said- the asshole sounding almost _amused._ In fact, you would have been convinced he was amused if it weren't for the underlying exasperation that was clearly in his tone of voice. 

“Seconded,” Anguis added tiredly. “Four years of knowing you and you suddenly pull this shit _now_?”

_“Anguis!”_

The three of you turned in the direction of the voice, Crab Man Yusei Fudo head of class 3A was running in his indoor shoes at top speed. Blazer drenched in rain water.

“Come on.”

“What wait- _no_! I need to watch!”

“We. Are. _Going_ ,” Kaiba wrapped an arm around your wrist and proceeded to drag you, much to your protest. Yelping as your heels dragged across the cement for a split second before instincts kicked in, scrambling your way up.

“OW- OW- OW! ALRIGHT, I GET IT, HOLD UP LET ME GET MYSELF UP HOLY FUCK-“

* * *

 

"So, what are the odds that Fudo found out from Atlas about Anguis’ crush?” You grumbled as you cut a piece of cake apart which Kaiba had so graciously paid for. Or well- bought it until he gave you a pointed look that was totally permission to eat it. At least you think you did, you've had to expand your Kaiba expression index largely since he decided to make your life unnecessarily complicated. Especially after the food poisoning. (That was a weird day filled with yelling at fangirls and cold looks and you just generally feeling misery and the willingness to cap a fucker if it meant that it would _end_.) 

“It’s obviously him,” Kaiba said, drinking his coffee primly. “He’s the only one with half a brain in that class.”

“And he ships them,” You muttered absentmindedly. Licking the cream off the side of your fork, because it was important. One shalt not waste food. Even a miniscule slather of whipped cream. You didn't notice Kaiba's eyes following the motion. 

“Still,” You snorted at the memory, much to the chagrin of the other guests in the super uppity bakery Kaiba had taken you too as compensation to dragging you from the show. (Actually- you whined and whined until he broke. The key was being a repetitive babble of annoyance, drives everyone nuts. Same fast flow, different subjects. When it came to Kaiba, subtle persuasion needed to be thrown out the window.) “I can’t fucking believe Anguis forgot to write his fucking _name_ on his confession letter. What a dunce.”

If you took pleasure in the distinctive wincing of the collective uppity customers sitting around you- you took the effort not to smirk.

“This is coming from _you_?” Kaiba questioned, glaring over his coffee.

“ _I_ don’t like anyone in that particular way,” You said, pointing your fork at him. “And _even_ if I did- I would admit it right away to get it over with.”

“How barbaric,” Kaiba said drily. “No one you have some inkling for will accept your confession with a bland presentation like that.”

You rolled your eyes, “I dislike the grandeur presentations. Gives too much pressure to the person being confessed to into saying yes- which is a dick move by the way. The more straight forward the confession- the easier it will be regardless of whether the answer is yes or no.”

You saw him sneer for a bit before you gave him a skeptical brow, “Alright Casanova- what would you do?”

“Obviously make the grandest confession to shame all confessions ever made,” He said, flat. In a matter-of-fact way that had you believing that it would absolutely _100%_ be what he would do if that ever happened. You weren't sure if you were unnerved by the fact that he had an answer or because he was taking you seriously. “Why would I bother giving the person who caught my interest a chance to say _no?_ ”

Which- much to your annoyance, made sense. Especially when this was _Seto Kaiba._ But- “That doesn’t explain my sister you know. You could have been- like- my future _brother-in-law_ right now with that sort of big dick energy you’re swinging.”

_I would have made you buy me so much food as bribe, holy shit._

He glared at you again, not saying anything. But you were pretty sure he was calling you an idiot in the privacy of his probably well organized and currently infuriated mind.

Then he turned his glare to the other patrons that have been giving you various looks of disgust throughout your meal. Which- fuck ‘em. You (Kaiba) paid for the meal, you had every right to be here the same as everyone else. It’s not like you were _yelling_ or being a bother, the only ones who could hear what you were saying to Kaiba were people who were _trying_ to listen in. Said other guests turned their heads back to their deserts and conversations as if they had never been listening in the first place. _Cowards._

_I wasn’t even talking **loudly,** the pricks. _

Idly, you watched as a moth managed to fly into the bakery- the brave little fucker, fluttering before you stuck your palm out. The moth landing on your hand as planned. Well- not actually, nature was not something you just predicted. But you were going to pretend like it did just for the sake of sounding cool.

You leveled a solemn look at the insect, “Sorry sir, we don’t have any lamps.”

Kaiba just gave you a look that gave you the impression that he would throw you into an asylum with no regrets.

The look grew more severe when the moth fluttered off your hand the instant you finished informing it of your sad lack of lamps.

“Do these people have anything better to do?” You mused, lifting the china delicately in your hand and taking a sip. Anything less than “delicate” would have warranted a brisk smack to the back of your head, with a _baseball bat._ Or at least- that was what your sister always told you whenever the two of you broke out the fine china for tea.

It was an heirloom so you went along with it. But now you were considering the fact that she just lied to you so you would stop clinking it on every surface imaginable. It sounded like something she would do.

“Other than butting into conversations they have no business in involving themselves?” Kaiba huffed decisively, causing the other _patrons_ to flinch at the pointed jab. Or at least- you _think_ he huffed, it was more like a very subtle scoff. Nonetheless, he continued his line of thought. “Well- it’s not as if you’re any better.”

You shrugged, letting the ceramic sit on the saucer with a gentle _clink,_ “I freely admit that I’m prone to butting into conversations that don’t involve me, but I at least to a better job of pretending my disinterest if I find the conversation be not to my liking. If not that, then directly making it clear that I’m involving myself instead of pretending disinterest and finding myself offended by a conversation I was listening in on.”

“I’ll admit that much,” Kaiba agreed primly, bowing his head just so in your direction. "Fortunately, you have some idea of standards." 

If the sudden temperature in the café turned colder, you and Kaiba dutifully ignored it while throwing shade at each other and every other customer in the establishment.

Before you left, you took a peek at the bill.

“Yeesh, glad I’m making _you_ pay for it,” You said with a nod. “Nice people though, does this place take tips?”

“Ordinarily, no.” Which usually meant _I expect them to take my tip regardless._

“How much for this amount?” You asked out of curiosity, tilting your head at the bill.

“3000¥.” You vaguely suspected that he only answered you simply to potentially shut you up, as if you actually _would **hah**. _

“Oh- okay,” You took out the amount and stuck it off the corner just before he was able to. Timed correctly so the waiter could quickly swipe it away from his reach.

_Hm- ramen lunch for the next two weeks._

“Take. It. Back.”

_Maybe Sapporo ramen? I’m in the mood for some insta-ramen._

“No.”

_I should also maybe grab some soda. Thirsty._

“Take. Your money. _Back_.”

“Nope.”

“Why are you being difficult _now_?”

_Does Kaiba drink soda? Na, the Kirin-Kaiba probably just sucks on coffee like a freaking vampire. He’s the type who would totally grunt at people that he wants his coffee black while in the background he just wants some sugar and crème. But he wants to maintain his asshole CEO persona, hence the flipping black coffee._

“Because. Nope.”

“There are no words,” He growled out, face pulled into a sneer that somehow managed to keep its aesthetically pleasing qualities. “To describe just how much of an _annoyance_ you are.”

“I know.” You grinned up at him. “Does that mean you’ll leave me alone now?”

He just growled again while moving to leave, to which you snickered at while following.

* * *

You walked out with your hands deep into your pockets as you kept up with the tall giraffe. Your pace matching his, you could tell he was annoyed about it from the way he glared everyone out of his way while the two of you walked on the drizzling side street.

“I might just be talking to a brick wall here, but how do you think Anguis is doing right now?”

He answered, much to your surprise, “If Fudo has gotten over his incompetence for the past hour- doing some disgusting affection-filled activity I would assume.” 

You hummed, reaching up to lower the umbrella as the two of you walked under an awning before letting go of his arm again. Casual- but you could feel his bicep clenching with tension. You weren’t certain why- but you were going to attribute the reaction to just not being used to touching.

You made note of it, the guy was a prick but you weren’t out to make anyone miserable.  

“I _guess,_ but Crim doing anything _remotely_ resembling non-platonic affection turns into a mass of bumbling baboon that starts to resemble his own _hair_.”

Kaiba paused, making you jolt just before you took your next step. Tilting your head at him in curiosity.

“Nothing you said made any sense.”

“Oh uh,” You paused, rolling your sentence in your head before a moment before-

_Well, technically his hair is black not actually **red.** But then again his hair color at the moment is red? Is it more a crimson red or is it more a carmine red- because it looks a little closer to carmine than it is crimson but Crim always suited him better. His cheeks turn more pink or light maroon than it does maroon. Maybe strawberry? But dusty? _

“He turns red,” You summarized. “Really _really_ red.”

_Carmine and dust pink specifically._

He gave you a look for that, but you were honestly not sure if it was confusion disguised as contempt or just plain _You are the most infuriating human on the planet._

_Time to expand the Seto Kaiba facial index again._

You shrugged.

“Anyway, I’ve gotta go,” You motioned over to a general direction. “To check if Anguis has spontaneously combusted or something-“

You moved around the solid cold metal before you had a chance to think about what it could mean.

Logic often outweighed instinct for you, your head went a lot faster than your body; spazzing out in different directions before you were able to clamp down and shove it in one direction. Apparently- this time it decided it was in reverse.

You slid back to your right, jabbing your elbow right where the person’s kidneys should have been while Kaiba took two steps and sent a fist straight into stranger danger’s jaw. Knocking them out.

You blinked, looking at Kaiba as calmly took out his phone and started talking. _Commanding_ more like. No unease, no surprise, just business as usual for Mr. Kaiba. Which _oof_ honest mood.

You snorted as you nudged the gun with your foot, right between your feet where the perp would have to undergo some serious weight via your legs before he could reach out and grab it. The rain falling freely on your form now that you were out of the shade provided by Kaiba.

When he finished and the Domino Police started charging there way here, you nudged the gun back out from your feet, “You’re weird.”

Kaiba gave you a look of contempt, _If I am, what are you?_ Ringing in your head like a translator. His damp hair strangely making him a little more- handsome. Not that you would _ever_ admit it to his face. You knew, just _knew_ that he was going to demand an explanation for your reaction. No normal person reacts to a gun barrel by _attacking_ back. And you didn't feel like explaining how you getting kidnapped during the Duelist Kingdom tournament made your sister  _very_ paranoid.

“Don’t, that’s just gonna tempt _me_ to be weirder.” You replied, feigning obviousness. “You _really_ won’t like me when I’m weirder.” 

“I doubt that’s possible.”

“You didn’t think I could be more idiotic, clearly something was wrong with that hypothesis,” You informed him with a shit-eating grin. “I will sing Classic American songs right here, right now. Regardless of how funky people think I am. I swear by all the salt in me- and I am _salty_.”

He gave you another look as police began to swarm around the goon.

“IS THIS THE REAL LIFE?” You grinned as he clearly was caught off guard. Ignoring the startled looks the rest of the crowd gave you as they too were jolted from their _I just witnessed a major incident_ daze. “OR IS THIS JUST FANTASY??”

You walked backward, twirling, “CAUGHT IN A LANDSLIDE, NO ESCAPE FROM RE-AL-I-TY!”

Looking furious, you cackled as you ran for it _away_ from Kaiba, the rain falling getting your eyes and splashing up to your clothes. Distraction successful. Your lungs stressing from the exercise and badly trying to sing the rest of Bohemian Rhapsody.

But hey, everyone needed a little Freddie Mercury in their life. Even someone as hard ass as Kaiba.

* * *

_A/n: This is very late. Really late. So very very late. Because this was officially done three weeks ago and then I got sidetracked by school, break, and other fanfiction ideas. There is currently a very very long one-shot in the works for you guys that I've been working on for three days straight. So look forward to it if I manage to finish it. And you can blame it on Sterek fanfiction. I also may have worked on a 5+1 Kaiba insert when I was working on chapters 1 and 2 of this so...if you guys wanna see it let me know because I'm literally like a small blurb away from finishing that whereas the One Shot is not gonna be for a while._  
  
_Anyway, boring stuff aside uh. Happy belated_ Thanksgiving _for my fellow Americans and happy- uh,_ _few days later? CHRISTMAS SEASON IS NOW HERE. HAH._  
  
_Dedications to:_  
  
_**Dianasaurus94:** You're partially right but the sister died of natural causes so not about the right thing- but your right. He knows something Reader doesn't know //wink wink// also we can be dense together me dude. Thanks for reading!_

**_HibiscusMist:_ ** _Same dude, and now it's officially rain season. But- considering I live in Southern California it might not be that often either so idk. At least I get to use my trenchcoat. Thanks for reading!_

**_You the Reader:_ ** _Thanks for reading! Have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_

 


	5. Bewilderment

Chapter 5, Bewilderment

* * *

 

Kaiba never thought that he would be able to see the legendary _Azure_ duelist in person

Kaiba had thought that he had indeed found _Azure_ when he dueled your sister, her style was familiar. That cocky but self-assured way that she dueled by using every card in her hand if she had to and never doing anything half-way, not even for cautionary purposes. But then she had laughed in his face when he asked about it. Flippantly adding,

“I didn’t play the online version.”

Kaiba was frustrated and hid it, but the infernal woman had known regardless.

Roughly seven years ago, when Duel Monsters came out in Japan via Pegasus, it didn’t take too long for companies to catch on to the literal gold mine it was. As much as Kaiba loathe to admit it, Pegasus was no idiot in business. So it also didn’t take too long for Pegasus to create a virtual means of dueling that utilized the internet.

It was his one solace during his tenure as the newly adopted Kaiba son.

Gozoboro had allowed it due to the strategic nature of duel monsters and Kaiba had torn through every player as if they were just barely beginning. Except for one.

_Azure_

From what he could figure out from the username and IP address, Azure was one of the first duelists to have signed on to the online platform. For years, even after the online duelist community had been disbanded in favor of the live PVP dueling systems, he wanted to put the energy to figure out who exactly Azure had been.

He hadn’t thought it could have been Kisa when he considered her challenge. No holograms, no fancy devices. Just a deck of cards with a calculator and a flat surface. The hospital table sufficed.

Kaiba knew he could be callous, but he wasn’t going to deny the wish of a dying woman.

Kisa was a woman born with poor health, but an excellent duelist during in table tournaments. If Kaiba were a different person, he imagined he would probably find herself enamored. In the end, he only respected her. Still, as she handed him her Blue Eyes, she regarded him carefully with a cautionary look that had him intrigued.

“Still gonna go after ‘Azure’?”

He didn’t say anything, only took the card and left, but not before she apparently had some few parting words for him.

“You know, I saw you at Duelist Kingdom.”

He froze.

“That asshole Pegasus took my kid,” She said, smiling weakly. “My younger sibling I mean.”

“I didn’t see you in the finals,” He declared after a few moments. She was a decent duelist by his standards, it made no sense that she wouldn’t be there.

“Bandit Keith.”

That answered things for Kaiba, Keith was notorious for cheating. It was why Duel Disk system discluded him during registration. If you couldn’t get by with your best then you were a disgrace and had no right in the first place.

“I thought I was going to kill him,” Kisa snorted. “Honestly he’s such an ass sometimes, but I think that had more to do with that weird eyeball than anything else. He even made a card for me you know, after that shitstorm.”

“But,” She had added carefully, a cold tone that Kaiba was familiar with.

It was the same tone he took whenever someone threatened Mokuba.

“You didn’t answer my question about Azure.”

“So you know who Azure is,” He stated, still not answering.

“Yeah I do,” She said, and from the look on her eyes, Azure was someone close if she looked ready to stab him with one of her IVs if that’s what it took to protect him. “You still haven’t answered the question.”

She was gripping the edge of her hospital gown tightly, pale because of her sickly nature but still all the more intimidating to the average person. A dark look in her eyes that promised pain if anything were to happen.

But Kaiba was no average person.

“I don’t plan on harming whoever Azure is if that’s what you’re thinking.” Kaiba wasn’t petty, but whoever Azure was, he was going to _crush_ them, and finally get his pride back in being the best duelist.

“If you hurt them,” She growled sitting-up, eyes glowing ominously in the low light like the dragon she was so fond of. “I will come back from the dead to hunt. You. Down.”

Kaiba didn’t believe in ghosts, but he still felt a shiver crawl up his spine as he left. He would do anything for Mokuba, it wasn’t exactly much of a stretch to believe that she could do the same.

* * *

 

Kaiba didn’t attend the funeral even if he paid for it. He owed the family nothing, but he did note that there had been a younger sibling of Kisa’s that had been left behind. Frankly, he had more important things to think about, but he still transferred over the money.

Then you challenged him to a duel that day.

At first, he was going to write you off. After he beat Yugi Muto, Kaiba was going to be the official number one duelist in the history of Duel Monsters, then he would move on to hunting down _Azure._ But even if he hadn’t obtained his deserved title yet, he received challenges every day, and every day his secretary sorted out the promising practice and the waste of time.

But there was something in your eyes that was strikingly familiar, so he accepted anyway.

The blue eyes was unexpected, but it wasn’t much a surprise. Kaiba had known Pegasus released one more copy into the world but he hadn’t known who at the time. The man had been infuriating about keeping the whoever asked for it a secret, so Kaiba had come to the conclusion that whoever it was, they were going to challenge him eventually.

But Azure. _Azure Eyes Silver Dragon._

Then it made sense.

He was indignant of course, how _dare_ you have the nerve to suddenly show up in his life after you left it years ago. Granted you didn’t talk much in the feeble chat option on the Online Platform, but you had always sent him a simple “good duel” after each time. But each time Kaiba had been annoyed and vowed to take you off your virtual throne.

And with the online platform disappeared, along with you. You didn’t even join in the duel disks when his company released the Kaiba Corp Duel Disks. It was like you never existed even if you dominated the Online Dueling community for nearly a decade.

But there you are. As infuriatingly skilled as you were before, using _his_ cards and mechanically using _his_ duel disk like you had never left the dueling scene.

Your style was refreshing one in comparison to Yugi’s, where Yugi always had a card up his sleeve to pull off a win. You pulled out all the stops. Like when you were Azure, you didn't think about the next card. You focused on the current duel and _stayed that way._ You discarded cards recklessly and worked with what you had in your hand. The only card you ever sought out was blue eyes white dragon. Everything else was either an annoyance or a convenience.

It was the same idiotic technique that annoyed him every damn time. No person should have been allowed to pull that much from a reckless deck, but you somehow managed it. Even _Yugi_ had a plan when he built his deck, thought about every card he had in his deck. He built his deck based on a _plan._

But _Azure_ never did.

 _So,_ Kaiba had thought to himself as he stared down the Azure Eyes Dragon. _I finally found you Azure._

He allowed you this one win. He was unprepared before. He wouldn’t be next time. Next time, he was going to _destroy_ you.

* * *

 

When you hadn’t shown up for school the day after, Kaiba was annoyed.

When you hadn’t shown for school the day after that- Kaiba was angry.

After observing the class carefully, he was able to find what he was looking for as he spotted Shinku parting from the rest of class to call you. In was a trivial matter to bully the redhead into giving up his phone for his use. Allowing him to trace the call back to the apartment you apparently had decided to hide in like a coward.

 _“_ **_Anguis_ ** _._ ” He heard you say carefully over the phone, rolling each syllable in your tongue. A dangerous tone that was oddly reminiscent of Kisa when she had been trying to be threatening. _“Where exactly are you? In fact- who_ **_exactly_ ** _is in the room with you.”_

He was grudgingly impressed, from the way you often acted in class, he would have thought that you would never notice something odd in the way Shinku had acted.

Shinku turned to look Kaiba in the eye, a little bit of fear dribbling into his expression as Shinku scrambled for an answer as he found that he was alone in the classroom. “Okay look- to be fair I was really anxious about where you went since you basically dropped off the face of the earth-“

Kaiba could hear the growl even from the headphones as he walked up the stairs to your apartment.

 _“_ **_Anguis. Shinku,_ ** _”_ You had spoken carefully. “ _Who.”_

“Kaiba!”

He was just about to open the door when he heard you from outside.

_“SHIT!”_

He grunted as the sudden force transferred through the door, an additional bang told him that you had probably thrown your weight onto the door and whatever was holding it back.

Then your voice filtered from the door “I. Am. Not. Letting. You. In!”

“Stop. With. Your. Stupidity!” He grunted, attempting to push his own weight against the open door while twisting the knob. The lock open due to the key he had bought from the owner of the apartment a few minutes earlier. A brief additional shove told Kaiba he needed more power. “Roland!”

“Fuck- plan B!” He heard again from the inside. WIth Roland’s strength and his own, the door was finally pried open.

His first impression of your apartment was that it was bland.

The walls were a slate gray that seemed to suck and subtly reflect the light that flooded the room from nearby windows. There were only two pieces of furniture in what seemed like a living room space.   
It was bland, even in Kaiba’s standards. Wherever you were spending the transferred money, it wasn’t on your apartment.

Spotting the only room in the apartment without a tiled floor, he stood in front and ordered Roland back to the car.

“Don’t be an idiot,” He huffed out, arms crossing reflexively. “I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“Yeah- well I admit I’m not the smartest but I ain’t _that_ stupid!” He heard you grunt after. “What do you want anyway?! Cause I am _not_ giving you _my_ Blue Eyes nor am I giving you Azure! I won that duel fair and square!”

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t _want_ your pathetic cards.”

That was only a partial lie, he was interested in how Azure Eyes Dragon would perform when faced with Yugi’s deck.

“Oh my god that is the worst lie I have _ever_ heard they are _Blue Eyes,_ ” It came out in a half growl if Kaiba was hearing it right through the door. “You paid _half a million_ ** _American dollars_** just so you can take it off my sister’s hands! That’s totally bullshit!”

Kaiba nearly snorted at that poor excuse, but he didn’t. Because it wasn't. Because he did transfer half a million worth of American dollars to someone’s account. But it was to Kisa’s living sibling out of respect, even if she had refused to take the money for the Blue Eyes she owned.

 _“If you hurt them.”_ The words echoed in his mind as if he hadn’t heard them two years ago. _“I will come back from the dead to hunt. You. Down.”_

Kaiba stopped pushing from his braced arm that held the top of the door, holding it there.

Kisa had gone by a different name in her table tournament days, “Your sister was the White Duelist?”

 _“_ Duh. Very wow. Much surprise.”

He resisted the urge to just shove the door open, the hinges weren’t exactly in their best condition. But that would only serve to antagonize you, and if you were anything like your sister, any antagonization would be met with a sudden dedication to making his life as hellish as possible. He had watched Pegasus beg for forgiveness from Kisa’s hospital room when he had sought her out the first day. He left before either them noticed, the look of fear on the man’s face was worth waiting a day for his Blue Eyes White Dragon.

So he gritted his teeth and tried to speak as even as he was able, “Open the damn door.”

“ _No.”_

Kaiba slowly put more weight on the door as a calculated measure, if he couldn’t convince you then he was going to con you, “I _will_ break this door open.”

“And you will _pay_ for it!”

If he did this wrong, he had to admit there was a real possibility of you doing that, not high but after hacking into your grades, you weren’t as stupid as you thought you were. But he pressed, the wood creaking under his hand as it tried to press back against the force he was applying.

He watched as you opened the door quickly, your eyes widening at the site of him.

“I’ve been had,” You muttered under your breath, stepping back to press against the wall.

You looked like shit.

The room didn’t smell rancid but it did smell strongly of store-bought instant ramen. Trophies listing both your name and your sister’s were organized on a shelf near the window. At a glance, he could guess that each square based trophy were about an inch apart. Your sister’s on one side while the other was yours. Yours were clearly less but where your sister had a split between 1st and some 2nd placed, yours were all 1st. He noted the names of each tournament before looking at the rest of the room. What grabbed his attention the most was the cards were strewn about on the floor in a organized chaos. Seemingly organized by type and subcategory. Each sleeved card stood out from the carpet.

There was more sitting in a neat pile in a large box slightly off to the side.

Looking back to you, you did look like shit. The bags under your eyes were unnaturally dark and you had a sick sheen to your skin that indicated that you hadn’t gone outside throughout the two days you had been apparently avoiding.

“You are going to school tomorrow.” He said after a moment of silence, his voice seeming to echo in the small room.

Kaiba watched as your eyes narrowed, “Alright- let’s just assume that I’m gonna go ahead and do whatever you tell me to. Fat chance by the way- what’s so important that you give a shit whether I attend school or not?”

He sighed, crossing his arms and looking down on you, annoyance bubbling under the surface “While you were gone our English literature teacher assigned partners for the project.”

“We’re in the same damn class? I don’t recall your name on the roster.” It was hard to imagine that you and the illusive duelist _Azure_ were the same person when you were looking at him with incredulity.

“I had better things to do.”

Your eyes rolled at him, tone monotone and serious. “Right. Sorry, forgot that you were the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.”

“…I’m going to pretend you didn’t keep the sarcasm out of that deliberately.”

“Do what you want- I’m not the CEO here man.” While on the floor, he watched as you raised both hands up in surrender.

“You’re awfully compliant for not wanting me here ten minutes ago.”

You glared at him for that, throwing your leg out in a childish manner, “I just accepted this loss Kaiba, you’re not winning the war.”

Kaiba almost let himself smirk, “You say that as if you have any chance of winning.”

“I won our duel didn’t I?”

He felt his eyes narrow, and here he was expecting you to be meek after that little display, “Just a battle won from luck. By the time this war is over you’ll realize that a pathetic thing like you never had much of a chance against me.”

You rolled your eyes at that, “Right- if that happens I will declare my profound and undying love for you asshole.”

For some reason, Kaiba didn’t think he would mind.

And that was enough reason to scowl.

* * *

 

Watching you pace back and forth in outrage was surprisingly amusing, “Why- why in the name of the Blue Eyes White Dragon do we have to do fucking Romeo and Juliet? Why can’t we do Edgar Allen Poe? Ed’s a great guy! Full of murder and psychological thriller that we can really sink our teeth into! Why the hell do we have to write a paper on how Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teenage hormone ridden, fucking stupid ass melodramatic dullards who wouldn’t know duty even if it got shoved up their asses?!”

Your face was pulled into a partial sneer, accentuated by the eye bags under your eyes as you read down the rubric, “Or if it had to be fucking Shakespeare why couldn’t it be Macbeth? Or hell, Hamlet?! Literally anything would be better than this shit- I’d rather examine Fifty Shades of fucking Grey.”

He watched you pause for a moment, looking up at him with a considering look, “…Na- I’ll skip the fifty shades and just go with straight up H.P. Lovecraft.”

Kaiba felt himself scowl in response, “As if our situation is even remotely similar to that poor excuse of a story about BDSM.”

“The fact that you know about Fifty Shades is something that is very concerning Kaiba.” You had a thinking look on your face that was unnerving given the context of this ridiculous conversation.

“You have no room to talk considering you brought it up.”

“And it was the worst accidental decision I made in the second year of High School,” You had continued, irritation expression of contemplation still set. “I blame my stupid self’s stupidity and lack of reading summaries before reading books. What’s your excuse?”

The worst part was, Kaiba was sure you weren’t even teasing. Your face was devoid of any amusement, instead only filling with a serious curiosity that made Kaiba uncomfortable in a sense that he felt he was being examined under a damn  _microscope,_ “Marketing research.”

“Oh Ra that is the worst excuse ever.” Your look gave way to a scowl, more out of disbelief than pure annoyance. Somehow picking up on the obtuse answer rather than the tone of his voice that usually told people to back off. “Give me a better one.”

Kaiba was beginning to regret taking the direct route. Clearly, you were more observant than he had given you credit for  _if_ you even noticed it. While he became aware that you were indeed, not stupid, that sort of observational power only came from someone who did it on a usual basis. Who noticed the small things and put them together faster than the average person could have. Combining the fact with your apparent obsession with certain placements and organization, OCD was a possible attribute. But there wasn’t enough physical evidence in front of him. Instead, he scowled right back before he turned, arms crossed. Saying nothing.

“Come on,” You urged, as if that was what you needed to convince him. An asinine grin spreading across your face before you decided to reveal apart of what you must have been thinking. “You’re a billionaire CEO. You don’t like anyone doing your work for you, and you don’t tend to waste your time on anything that would be useless. Though beats me why you’re hanging around me right now- Fifty Shades of Grey is a five-hundred-and-fourteen paged erotica that is a woeful representation of the nature of BDSM and its details. There are fanfiction that is a better representation of the sexual practice. If you ignore the BDSM details, that leaves the erotica. However, given your socially superb aesthetics, your intelligence, and your economic standing you should have no trouble acquiring a live experience if you so wished. So what’s the deal?”

That...was unexpected.

You were actually quite intelligent when you weren’t making childish jokes and generally being an annoyance. Knowing your identity as _Azure_ aside, this revealed a whole new facet to the mystery of what Kaiba thought _Azure_ was.

Kaiba had pictured Azure as collected, thinking permanently one step forward and acting recklessly in each turn due to the way they had dueled because of the factor of impossibility. But if you really were _Azure_ then the answer was obvious. You weren’t reckless, you were just hyper-aware of every possibility the second you looked at a card. A style that would have been almost exactly like Yugi Muto if it wasn’t for the fact that Muto genuinely used strategy, targeting certain cards that would get the result he wanted. You literally pulled it from whatever card was in your disposal because your thinking depended on both the luck of the draw and the effects of your cards in any given time. It was such an absurd and complicated way to duel that Kaiba nearly wrote it off until he picked apart your observation. A culmination of several pieces of information combined into one theory that was closer to the truth than he was comfortable with. It should have been impossible, Duel Monsters was based on estimation and strategy. Each winning deck was built on consistency, yours were a mix-mash of multiple things with no real theme or intention except for the occasional Blue Eyes, and even then you were willing to dismiss if you felt it was necessary. Kaiba didn’t do that, is strategy has an will always be centered around his best card. Yugi Muto didn’t do that, his had always focused on a particular monster in his deck, it was easy to tell which one it would be the longer the game would go on. Yours was apparently to make something out of nothing, it was part of what made it so annoying.

It was difficult to attribute those characteristics to the person who looked like a hamster on too much coffee in front of him.

Then again, _Azure’s_ dueling style had always been either absurdly stupid or absurdly brilliant.

You seemed to take his lack of response as a sign of bewilderment as you continued, “I’ve had a total of three hours of sleep in the course of two days you really should have realized that I would be off my fucking rocker.”

Even Kaiba didn’t pull those hours without wanting to kill someone, “Most people wouldn’t be that talkative.”

“It’s a health condition. I used to have insomnia as a kid and talking and reading is how I coped with it. Now spill.” As if Kaiba hadn’t already known that.

But this was too much information to organize, even for him _,_ “First you wouldn’t let me through the door now you can’t shut your mouth, I can’t believe I actually wanted you to give me information.”

“Hello deflection, didn’t actually wanna see you right this minute but it’s good to see you.”

“I’m dreading the fact that I tried to get in this damn apartment.” The fact that he mumbled under his breath was just proof of how infuriating you were.

“So? So? I’m not gonna stop pestering you until spill the beans. Get the cat out of the bag. Blow the whistle. Give the game away. Take the lid off. To lay it all bare-“

“I get it. Now will you _stop_.”

“Psch- maybe.”

Kaiba felt himself sigh, never in his life did he have to deal with such an infuriating person. It was a frustrating balance that was more taxing than he wanted to admit, “Mokuba.”

You tilted your head, “So Mokuba got curious about the book, you read it to screen it- and bam. You’ve read one of the weirdest piece of popular literature in history. Alright.”

“But-“ you added. Tilting your head at him like a particularly annoying pigeon. “That doesn’t explain your fixation and change of subject.”

He scowled, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You changed the subject and switched tactics the instant you found out about my sister. You knew her- and knowing her she probably made you promise something before she took the money,” You tapped your finger on your chin. Clearly thinking, which was honestly the last thing he needed. “Protecting me? Nothing much to protect, I can handle myself. I’m decent on the money end too- it’s not like I spend much beyond cards and basic necessities. My insomnia only pops up when I’m really stressed out. So it’s something else, not you fulfilling whatever half-baked promise she cooked up.”

You were staring hard at him, looking for something in particular. He was confident you would find nothing. Kaiba had been dealing with your type for years, his mask was impeccable.

_“Holy shit you liked her!”_

And Kaiba starred. His thoughts at a standstill as he processed just what exactly you had said. How- how did you even come to the conclusion? He respected your sister, not _liked her_ or whatever juvenile term you had decided to use. If anything he was more inclined to ‘like’-

He forced himself to stop before he could continue.

“You never pay this much attention in class, how the hell did you figure that out.” The accusation was petty and not as subtle as he would have preferred, but he had little other choices.

You, however, seemed to take it as a reason to explain yourself, “You guys wear the same expression, it’s that kinda constipated look on your face combined with when you guys have to do something you really don’t wanna do.”

You shrugged at him again, the motion easing into your shoulders and subtly distracted from the way your leg was moving in rapid movements. You were anxious about something, “and there was a maybe- 60% chance I was correct and your expression confirmed it. But hey- at least it makes sense.”

Kaiba crossed his arms out of instinct, “How the hell does it make sense to you?”

“Sure it does. Like I said before: you’re handsome, intelligent, economically high standing and probably going to innovate the entire gaming industry as we know it. Why would you take such investment in coming here, hunting me down instead of- I don’t know. Demanding rematch duels outside my window? It doesn’t make sense.” You pointed a thumb over to where the trophies were. “I learned how to duel from my sister, so our styles are similar. You probably recognized it and when we dueled and I think you wanted to figure out what the hell was going on. Hence- came here. Maybe I’m being extra but it’s the only non-meta theory I have that makes sense.”

It made _no_ sense whatsoever, but at least he knew your eccentric qualities only went as far as your personality, “Nothing you say makes any sense.”

You grinned at him, coy and charming in a ludicrous way, “Does that mean you’ll leave me the hell alone to deal with the tragedy of us having to do an essay on Romeo and Juliet? I assure I’ve always secured results that you would view adequate in all my literary essays.”

As if he would be that easy, “No.”

“Damn it,” There was a bit of an insanity tinged edge to it. He had no doubt in his mind that you were planning several ways in which to drive him out. Clearly, you underestimated him, he would rather go through all your accusations and prodings if it meant that his very presence would still put you on edge. Even if it meant that he would have to avoid correcting your impression that he had some sort of feeling for your sister. A ridiculous notion but it was doing a good job of making you as uncomfortable as he was. You wouldn’t be working so hard to get rid of him otherwise.

“Don’t you have some business-y stuff to do? Go do that! Why stay here where there’s not even a television?” There was a brief pause where it seemed like you were thinking something over before continuing. “Come on- just leave me to this shit and I’ll do some annotating and stuff. You probably have a lot of better things to do.”

“If that’s the way you write your analysis, I highly doubt you’d be able to meet my standard,” Kaiba said drily. “And no. That’s not how business works, I can work here just as well as I would in my office at Kaiba Corp. It’s due to this little wondrous invention called technology.”

“So-” You paused, a slow, shit-eating grin taking over your face, “why are we still talking?”

“You’re insufferable.”

“I am, aren’t I? You should probably go back home or something.”

He smirked, “No.”

“Damn it.”  

* * *

 _A/n: Guess whose on time? That is right!_ **Moi!!** Admittedly this one was a lot easier because it's a reveal of Kaiba's motivations and perspective. I have the next chapter mostly done so who knows- Just know that I hope this answered a lot of questions people might have had.   
  
_Anyway,_ **Dedications to:**

 **_Dianasaurus94:_ ** _EHEH. Yes, Bohemian Rhapsody gets everyone going. Except for- you know. //stomp stomp clap// Also yes, you got your request. An entire chapter based on Kaiba's point of view- which should provide an interesting perspective on events that have already occurred. Keep some of Kaiba's thoughts in mind for the next chapter //wink// And thanks for liking Crim! He was the first OC i've ever made for Yugioh and he holds a special place among my children. There will be more on the relations soon both for Anguis and the reader + Yusei but for now I need him out of the story for a bit ;) Thanks for reading!_

 **_Polirange_ ** _: You are right in both cases! As an explanation that won't reveal the plot, ADHD (Which stands for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) can make it hard to focus on one thing. Mine isn't as severe at others- but when it does kick in- it kicks **hard.** As a result, the attention span is lower but you tend to keep some details in mind, it's hard to word but it's like jumping into a book and skipping a shit ton of chapters backward and forwards and picking up small pieces from what you read. It's pretty frustrating. But my coping mechanism tends to be focusing on one thing and following that thought and forming it into a simple but clear statement in my head, it allows me to move on a lot easier than if I just looked at it and kept making assumptions. Thanks for reading and I hope this chapter excited you indeed!_

 **_6F0909:_ ** _IIII'M JUST A PPPOOOORRRR BOOIIII- I NEEED NO SYMPATHY......NO PROBLEM ME FRIEND. GLAD TO HAVE DONE SO AND THANKS FOR READING._

 **_HibiscusMist:_ ** _INDEED. AND KAIBA SHALL SUFFER MORE //LOOKS AT THE CHAPTER 6 WIP// HE WILL INDEED. AND WELL- SO WILL THE READER BUT BECAUSE OF A DIFFERENT THING. YOU'LL SEE. THANKS FOR READING._

 **_Catoptromancer:_ ** _PLS DON"T DIE FROM CHOKING. Honestly, this story came up as a crack idea while it was raining and I went: "what if there was a fanfiction that just was straight meme references all the time?" Also honestly I'd do the same damn thing. You can't go wrong with Queen. You really can't. Don't worry- the moth got his lamp in the end. It was how we got him to cooperate. Thanks for reading!_

 **_You the reader:_ ** _Thanks for reading and have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_

 


	6. Surprise

Chapter 6, Surprise

* * *

 

Silence, he had found, was ominous when it came to you.

Silence means that you were contemplating, and you contemplating means that you were thinking deeply about something to the point where you could run into a pole and you would have never noticed it. 

Previously, he had just thought you were stupid. Until he later realized that something usually happened a day after. Usually of the traumatizing variety.

Shinku, who much to his displeasure seemed to get over whatever fear the redhead had towards his person, approached him a little after witnessing you bump into a pole to stare at it inquisitively before continuing. 

“So uh- there’s a plot going on,” Shinku said awkwardly. “The Kaiba Club’s been doing shit.”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at him, “And what exactly did those imbeciles do?”  _ And why was it apparently enough to warrant a deep contemplation? _

Shinku shrugged, uniform folding with the movement, “Normally no shits would be given but I think insinuating that cheating happened during that one duel you two had was...enough.”

It mildly infuriated him that you had a moral code to match the ridiculousness of your dueling, “It’s not my problem.”

Shinku simply smiled, tired and haunted at the same time despite the fact that he was in confidence the man was never a target for your displeasure, “It totally is, Kaiba. You might scoff now, but you have no idea how much this is a bad thing. This is a very very bad thing. This is spitting in  _ Kisa’s grave  _ levels of bad. You’ll see.” 

Kaiba wrote Shinku off as overreacting, but he really should have intercepted when he had the chance. 

-

You looked far too happy the next day. 

He raised an eyebrow as you skipped into class, he himself having attended purely due to the fact that the essay warranted editing since you had made the damn thing  _ thirty six  _ pages long when he wasn’t watching. The main issue was that you had written valid points, and that was the most irritating about it. 

But when you approached him, you grinned. 

“What did you do,” He said dryly. 

You grinned,  _ wider.  _

“Nothin’.” 

“Even if I were as stupid as Katsuya, I wouldn’t believe that.”

You cackled before shrugging, getting the attention of the rest of class, “Nothin’ that would get me arrested don’t worry.” 

“If it’s enough for you to believe that you could be arrested, it’s enough to raise suspicions.” 

“Daw, na. It’s okay, I just wrote some shit and...arranged things,” You grinned again. 

“I’m starting to realize that Shinku’s right. You cannot be left alone.  _ Ever _ .”

You continuing to laugh was not helping.

* * *

 

Walking through the halls, Kaiba gained a recollection of what had apparently happened. 

As annoying as it was, some faces from the idiotic so called  _ fanclub  _ of his had been enough of a nuisance to warrant his attention. After the incident with the drink, he made sure to keep a closer eye; despite the fact that you hadn’t even felt hurt by the fact you were almost given  _ chemical burns  _ because some girl thought it would be a  _ brilliant idea  _ to throw  _ bleach  _ at you. But  _ no,  _ apparently your moral compass was far more important than your  _ physical health.  _ He didn’t know how Kisa survived as long as she did having you as a younger sibling. Mokuba was danger prone because of himself but Mokuba never written off acts against his person the way you did. Trying to blind you was apparently just fine- but as soon as your honor was put into question the gloves were off. It was irritating and admittedly only  _ slightly  _ impressive. If pure  _ stupidity  _ could be impressive. 

As such, it was very apparent that you clearly did  _ something  _ as you brightly smiled at one of the members only for said member to start stammering, turn red, and promptly head the other direction. 

Judging by your expression, you were clearly pleased by the result of whatever half-baked plan you had come up with. Which was exasperating.

“Funny how such little flirtations have such great impact,” You mused out loud, looking at him from the corner of your eye before winking. Before continuing in English,  _  “How ‘bout it daddy long legs?  _ Ready to start avoiding me? _ ”  _

_ “You are idiotic and stupid,”  _ He replied in English, refusing to meet you in the eye as he forced his pace to maintain itself instead of walking  _ faster  _ like he wanted to. “And that attempt was pathetic.”

_ “Guess I just get too lost in your eyes to come up with a good one,”  _ You continued, unphased while shrugging. 

He  _ really  _ should have stopped you when you had the chance. He would have rather gotten those members kicked out of Domino than to have to deal with this. 

_ “Are you a trap card Kaiba?”  _ You continued with a wide grin. 

“Stop it.”

“ _ Cause I fell for ya,”  _ You gave him an overzealous wink. 

“Enough.”

“ _ You must be a magic card, cause I’m under your spell _ .”

He paused in his steps and looked at you, shit-eating and all. “How many of those stupid lines do you have?”

“ _ English has 21 letters right?”  _

“I’m not falling for that,” Kaiba hissed before continuing his stride. 

You were oddly quiet for the rest of walk to the library. 

“So there isn’t?”

No. You were lying. 

But you sounded so  _ damn confused.  _

_ It was a damn trap and he knew it.  _

“ _ No  _ you imbecile there are  _ 26 _ .”

You shrugged, straight-faced, “Guess I forgot  _ U. R. A. Q. T.” _

_ “I hate you.” _

“You lost your chance of getting rid of me  _ days ago  _ buddy, you’re stuck with me and my awful lines, I’m here to make your life a living shadow dimension.”

There was a brief pause filled with shit-eating grins and Kaiba fuming in the background before he finally slammed his hand against the table in frustration. 

“Against my better judgment  _ what exactly did you do to those girls _ ?” Kaiba growled as the fourth girl took one look at you before turning around with red cheeks. 

“I got all their numbers,” You stated mildly, tilting your head at your computer before looking up at him again. “After I learned a bunch of pick up lines.”

“You are insufferable, clearly. I cannot fathom why I allow you to even sit next to me.”

“You wouldn’t have had good reason to kick out that one sleazy investor. I don’t even remember his name but he was a major douche canoe.” 

“Yamada,” Kaiba scowled. “How did you even find out about that? You met him  _ once  _ while pestering me in my office. No one would answer me when I demanded to know how you even got there or what you were doing before I came.” 

“Full disclosure, I didn’t mean to- but the thing was sticking out  _ right  _ there and it was hard to resist,” You breathed, leaning an elbow into the table while Kaiba continued scowling at you over his laptop. “I took his phone.” 

“You  _ pickpocketed  _ him?” 

“It was sticking up- how am I supposed to  _ not  _ grab it? If anything it was on the verge of falling out,” You pouted. “Besides he was flirting with that secretary of yours. She’s really nice and good at her job- though I don’t like the way her desk is organized. It’s sorted by color when it should be sorted numerically followed by alphabetical. If she wants it colored she should have bought different colored post-its.”

“What I fail to comprehend is why you felt the need to interfere,” Kaiba pinched his nose in frustration. “You realize that it could have been a disaster for you if he found out you had  _ stolen  _ from him?” 

You shrugged at him again, regret very much not in your expression much to his displeasure. “I like you better than him. What can I say, you’re funny.” 

“I’m  _ funny _ ,” Kaiba restrained himself from groaning. “You realize that you are insane?” 

“It’s the ADHD talking I think,” You didn’t deny your insanity. “I assure I'm actually pretty sane when I'm not distracted. But we could never afford to get me diagnosed so there it is. Once I got over you being a creepster about my sister and the whole” You made rapid hand motions towards him. “ _ This  _ then I was cool with it.”

“Sometimes,” Kaiba muttered quietly. “I have no idea what to make of you.” 

“That’s so sad. Alexa play despacito.” You eyed him, narrowed from the way you were resting your head in your hand. “I’m just surprised you haven’t asked me to a duel again. I mean, you went after me for that right?”

Kaiba looked at you with a blank expression, surprise was written in the lack thereof. To which you shrugged. 

“It took a while but I realized why you were so intent on following me around,” You pointed at yourself a small smile on your face. A simple tug at the end of your lips that indicated some mild amusement. At what he wasn’t sure.  “I mean- it took kind of an embarrassing amount of time, but hey. I got there eventually didn’t I?  _ SM_BWD  _ right?” 

Embarrassment was what he felt first. Then irritation. Then anger. Then  _ rage.  _

He stood up, indignant and nearly shuddering under his skin. 

He only saw you blink at him as he left, frozen in where you had seated next to him.

* * *

 

He threw himself into work the next following days. Tearing through meeting after meeting and paperwork. 

So it was only because of the stupid essay that he came back to school. 

It was well after hours as Kaiba breezed through the halls in his suit, the building empty save for the few people staying back for club activities or some other pointless reason. 

“The essay?” The literature teacher had frowned at him as she sat, lounged into her seat as she was correcting the papers in front of him. “It’s already been dealt with Kaiba.” 

She turned back to the stacks of paper in front of her, “Your partner said that your grades should be separate due to conflicting schedules.”

Irritation sparked, “What do you mean separate grades?” 

“Well- your partner made a good argument. Since the majority of the work was done by you,” which was a lie- you had done most of the literary analysis work, he had proofread it and added his own analysis. “You should get the grade. Don’t really know what I was expecting from you but from that one-” 

She shook her head, muttering under her breath as she turned back to her papers, “I don’t know. I get the ADHD but it’s no reason for it to be even worse than it had been for the past few years.”

That interested him, while concentration is something to be desired, it has never posed an issue to the degree described. Whatever the case was, he left. Pulling out the thin plastic umbrella without thinking as he stepped into the rain. His driver pulling up to take him back to Kaiba Corp.

* * *

 

Kaiba was driving past the old park when something caught his eye, impulsively barking at the driver to stop. 

Getting out of the car and walking out to the already muddy grass was no issue as you sat mindlessly on the swing. Silent. Intent. Eyes focusing on one thing yet somehow over a billion kilometers away. 

His coat staved off the chill and the pouring rain, but you had no such protection. The blazer of the Domino High Uniform drenched in rainwater as you sat on the swing. 

You looked worse than when he had forced his way into your apartment. 

He tried calling your name. 

No response. 

He tried calling you by your first name. 

Again- nothing. 

Irritated, he grabbed you by the shoulders, parts of his hair sticking to his forehead that flung water as he shook you. Calling you by your full name. 

That seemed to snap you out of it as you suddenly warp back to the present, eyes focusing on him before frowning. 

“What are you doing here?”

Kaiba scowled, “That’s something you should be asking yourself. You’ll get sick standing in the pouring rain like a stupid fool, and if Shinku is to be believed- apparently it’s something you hate.”

You shrugged, “I’ll be okay. It’s not your concern.”

“It  _ is _ my concern,” He snarled. “If you get hypothermia while I was able to witness it the image cooked up by the press will be less than favorable.”

You batted off his hand, a harsh smack from your dominant that indicated years of use- as well as your apparent annoyance with him. “Considering there are no such reporters within the vicinity and the fact that you had stepped out of your car out of your own volition- the best I can do is release a statement that indicates that I had rejected your rare act of kindness. Therefore I believe it would be far more beneficial for both you and I to part ways here and forget you even noticed my presence.”

You turned forward again, forcing your eyes to focus on what was in front of you. Instead of on  _ him.  _ And that- was  _ annoying.  _

“ _ If,”  _ He growled, gripping your arm in his grip. Knuckles tightening. “You  _ die  _ because of some idiotic sickness that could have been avoided if you had any  _ shred  _ of sensibilities left in that insipid brain of yours before I beat you than there will be nothing of you  _ left _ to forget.”

You looked at him in the eyes, face blank but eyes flaring with rage. 

Your arm reared back. He watched as if in slow motion as it snapped forward like a rubber band. Catching the side of his cheek and force hard enough that it forced him to stumble backwards. Hands instantly moving to cradle the throbbing pain of his jaw. 

“I have no need nor use to explain my actions to a man of your stubborn caliber however for your sake, and acknowledgment of whatever feeble relationship we managed to form before you decided it was irrelevant, I will oblige you this one courtesy,” You said coolly. Looking down on him despite the fact that he had several feet above you just standing straight. “I have given you space in order to better reflect on what I had stated prior to our meeting. I understand your anger most likely stemmed from the conclusion that I manipulated you soon after discovering your original purpose in seeking me out. To make matters clear, I had not known your motivations until I had remembered a user of your particular attitude and preference during the existence of Link Duels. I did not in any shape, way or form intend to give the allusion that I had deliberately misled you in any way. Nor do I ever intend to harm you or your brother nor threaten either and, or both of you for any type of gain. That being stated-” 

You motioned around you, stiffly, shoulders rolled evenly with your neck as your back sat as straight as a board. A uniformed response, a defending response. “I am in this area under heavy rain of my own volition due to the fact that this is the place in which I watched my sister collapse for the final time, later to die four days after. I am here to reflect because today, as you probably are aware, is the day Kisa died. Now  _ leave _ .” 

Kaiba didn’t leave. 

He only pulled out his phone, typing out a simple but clear message to his secretary to cancel his meetings for the day. Taking the swing next to you and continuing the silence. 

“She was such a stubborn asshole,” You grumbled, quiet voice drowned out in the rain. “You two deserve each other honestly. You’re both  _ jackasses _ . Jumping to conclusions like a complete  _ fucker. _ ” 

“I apologize.” 

That seemed to jolt you out of your line of thought as you abruptly turned to stare at him. Eyes piercing through and trying to assess what he was thinking, what he was trying to do. Kaiba didn’t turn away, if he turned, there was a high possibility that you would make yourself disappear entirely. Out of his reach forever. 

“My conclusions were rash,” He continued. “I...should have let you explained yourself.”

“Why?” You asked, expression carefully blank and assessing. Very much debating if the next few of his words were worth forgiving him for such transgression. “Why all the effort just to duel me again? You could have asked days ago Kaiba. Especially if you knew who I was.”  _ To you _ . “It doesn’t make sense that you would wait for so long.” 

Kaiba swallowed, uncharacteristically nervous. But  _ feelings  _ were never his strength, much less trying to describe them. 

“Under Gozerboro, there was never a moment of respite,” He said finally. “The only form of enjoyment that I managed to derive had been through link duels. I was best and I stood unchallenged- until you.” 

“You never beat me,” You stated. Meant to be factual, devoid of any possibility of gloat, but it still stung. 

“For once in those miserable few years, I think I actually had fun,” Kaiba continued. “You frustrated me- but it forced me to constantly evaluate my deck and strategies. You are the most single brainless duelist I have ever dueled and somehow you manage to pull off a win last minute every damn time.” 

“Long-term planning,” You commented. “I can’t predict the other opponent’s deck- so I work under the assumption can’t predict mine either.” 

“That’s...it?”

You nodded, “That’s it.” 

“...You fucking  _ asshole _ .” 

“Holy shit,” You said softly. “You cursed.” 

“I’ve cursed before.” 

“You’ve never used ‘asshole’ before in my presence. Or any form of ‘fuck’ for that matter.” 

“It’s you. Your stupidity is infectious.” 

“And to think I believed  _ Katsuya  _ would be the one to break out the filthy- oh no-  _ Seto fucking Kaiba  _ takes the lead in being a  _ teenager  _ at  _ seventeen. _ ” 

“Yes it was I,” Kaiba replied blandly. “ _ Seto _ ."

“....... _ PFFFFFFF” _

“We’re making  _ Jojo  _ references now?” Your question came out shrill, high pitch and just barely containing your laughter as you turned slightly red-ish from the strain. There was a tilt of a smile that let him breathe a little easier, apparently his brief idiocy forgiven. Which was a surprise but Kaiba wasn’t going to question it. You stared out to the pouring rain with a deliberate look of concentration. “The  _ world  _ is ending. Or I’m dying” 

“You are already dead.” 

“ _ WHAT?!”  _

You broke off into hoarse laughter, doubling over in pain as you couldn’t help but cackle until you used every ounce of air you had in your lungs. 

As soon as you stopped gasping for air, the silence turned contemplative again. He knew you were thinking by the way you swung your leg around madly. The hundred meter stare deeply set into your expression. 

“You’re still an asshole you know,” You muttered later. “But I get it. I think. It hurt when you left me to question what I did wrong for three days, but I get it. But- yell at me for it okay? At least let me know before you stomp off in a huff. Those last three days weren’t...good.”  _ Because I was analyzing every second and every moment and imagining every single scenario and every single thing that could have caused you to act like that and how every other word might have made it worse. _

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he muttered lowly. Watching as the rain seemed to lighten in intensity, a pleasant, slightly warm sprinkle replacing the pouring drops of inches long water droplets. He began to move his mouth again- but he couldn’t get the words out, much to his frustration. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say it,” You chuckled. “The first one was enough.”

You stood up, extending a hand to him, “Let’s go visit Kisa yeah?”

The sun seemed to chose that exact moment to shine, cascading its light around you like some sort of natural stage light. The edges of your form slightly glowing from the layer of dampness that clung to your skin and shined from the light. It was ridiculous in a way that shouldn’t have occurred naturally. Yet against every odd, it did. Leaving a breathtaking image and a soft smile that had triple the effect considering what ridiculous Disney movie level shit that was taking place. 

...Admittedly, he wondered if the ridicule he would have to face from you for taking out his phone to take a picture was worth it. 

He sighed, slumping his shoulders and grabbing your wrist, allowing you the illusion of picking him up as you led the way to the cemetery.

* * *

_A/n: Holy shit, on time for the **second time**. New record! Anyway. Not much to say. Except this is where things start changing so- yeah. Now the  **real** fun begins. Prepare for reader dealing with Kaiba's fans. The  **Memelord Reader way**. ;)_

_**HibiscusMist:** Uh. I'd say I know what you're talking about but um, I don't. Also pls sleep, sleep is good for you. Thanks for reading! Even tho you shouldn't have been! but Thanks!_

_**Dianasaurus94:** And now you have another Kaiba chapter! Also yes, this is the first time the sister "Kisa" has been introduced. If your looking for an image- well, Kisa was taken by the character "Kisara" hence the fondness for the blue eyes white dragon. That whole mythical schtick isn't that important in this story, so it's okay for me to say who Kisa is based on. Hence "Kisa" having a weak biology. But now that that's out of the way. Things are gonna start being. you know, a "reader x [Character]" insert if you know what I mean. //wink wink// Thanks for reading!_

_**You:** Thanks for a reading, have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_

 


	7. Satisfaction

Chapter 7, Satisfaction

* * *

You paced around the 100 yen store determined, making your way to one area. Then abruptly turning around the opposite direction.  

The employees in the store, currently helping no one else because of the fact that you happened to be the only customer, watched as you mumbled to yourself. Pacing to and fro the arts and crafts section.

It was an odd mix of Japanese and English apparently, one of the employees could hear the rough curses in English that were passing your lips whenever you turned around to go back the way you came.

When you stopped abruptly, tilting your head at the small plastic object hung off one of the shelves. They were all mildly unnerved by the lopsided but no less, _wide_ grin you had on your face as you stared at...felt.

The felt was a three package type, white, light blue and light gray. Then you made to grab it-

And grabbed _six of them,_ another six adding to the pile precariously balanced in your hands as you went for the white, black, and dark gray pack before making your way to the register. Gleefully, and more miraculously, neatly putting each pack on the register.

“Hi,” You said with a disarming smile.

They had the impression that you knew exactly what they were thinking about. Regardless, a customer was a customer- and they had a duty to that customer.

“Will that be all for today…?” Said the poor man at the counter.

“Yep,” You nodded to added effect. Then paused. “Wait- oh _crap_ these things need that felting needle over there don’t they?”

The employee nodded hesitantly, “We could go get it for you if you like?”

You shook your head, already moving to go jog back, “Na it’s okay. I’ll probably be needing some band-aids too.”

The employee sweat dropped as you ran off.

You walked out of the store, 2000¥ poorer but it wasn’t as if you cared too much.

* * *

 You flopped to your seat, grinning unnervingly. At everyone.

Unnerving- because even _Yugi Muto_ was mildly unsettled.

“Ehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.”

The laugh wasn’t helping either.

You turned your head at the sound of someone calling your name, tilting your head and grinning far too widely, “Yees?”

Kaiba wasn’t present today, due to a company party he had to arrange upon the insistence of Mokuba and everyone on his board. While normally he wouldn’t have said jack shit to anyone- you had been enough of an annoyance that he had briefly considered telling you before also considering the fact that you had no need to know why he was out. Then he imagined what kind of hell you could inflict just from sheer curiosity.

Apparently there were _reasons_ why the last P.E. teacher had quit last year, reasons that had to do with you and him calling you something resembling the word _retard._ Which you had reportedly took an affront to.

Shinku had been shaking when he said such so he could only assume that it had been amusing somewhat.

Regardless, he wasn’t at school. You were.

And people were afraid about what you would do without anyone telling you _No._ A job that had been formally Anguis Shinku’s passed on to Kaiba when he finally admitted he liked Fudo. A dual-sided sword. On one hand, no one had to deal with Shinku’s mooning. On the other hand, you were left without a compulse control.

“What are we going ta do,” Jounouchi whispered to Teá, who was doing her best to remain as serene as possible. “‘S Gonna be _hell_ wit’out Kaiba.”

“As long,” Teá muttered under her breath. “As Kaiba’s fangirls keep _away_ we’ll be fine.”

Things were not fine.

After the whole dueling debacle at the beginning of the year, the group you had dubbed _The Motley Crew_ had quickly come to learn that you being left with Shinku would have been _much_ better.

Over the course of the few weeks in which Kaiba had finally pestered you long enough to come back to school- apparently it was also the signal in which you didn’t need to maintain whatever facade you had. Which was the first part that was jarring.

They hadn’t expected someone so...spazzy.

Admittedly it was a little funny at first; you dealing with some of Kaiba’s fangirls had been hilarious in a unique way. They would insult you, you would flirt back. They would try to take away your stuff, their clothes ended up modified with a few choice tears of fabric. They tried to send you hate mail, their lockers became filled to the _brim_ with chocolate. Someone tried to hit you, you danced them through a spicy tango number that _no one_ expected. Those moments were the school’s entertainment for _weeks._

The catch was that all of this occurred when Kaiba was present. Apparently, Kaiba being _there_ means you played _nice._

What they foolishly, foolishly misunderstood is that in all the excitement and amusement that you were freely giving the rest of the Domino High Population, _no one_ bothered to question how you were getting into their lockers.

Finding them was simple, it was a trivial task to simply observe where they went after school, but in all the hilarity, no one thought to wonder how you were getting into their lockers in the first place.

But back to the classroom.

You had fully rotated your body to face the person who called your name, a spectator who just so happened to apparently not get the message.

“A cockroach like you shouldn’t be hanging out with Kaiba,” She hissed.

You shrugged, grinning, “Then you shouldn’t have ap _roached_.”

The teacher called your name, hesitantly asking you to answer the question as soon as she bared witness to your disarming smile.

You gleefully _skipped_ to write down the question before returning.

“I dun’ think we’re gonna survive,” Jou muttered, leaning to where Yugi was. “How long did ya’ say moneybags was gonna’ be out?”

“Two weeks,” Yugi whispered.

He has faced down demons of ancient times, had his life threatened, nearly drowned, and had been soul kidnapped by multiple people in the past three years alone. And Yugi honestly felt that you were probably the biggest threat that he would ever have to face and he wasn’t even a _target._ The rest of the class looked on pityingly at all the known members of the Kaiba Fanclub.

* * *

 You hummed to yourself as you gleefully ate the sandwich you filched from the cafeteria, mentally counting down the seconds before-

“ _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH._ ”

You chomped at the second bite far more cheerfully than before.

-

“Yusei?”

Fudo looked up from his notes at Anguis, who had a contemplating expression on his face, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Why do you think someone would want to know the areas in Japan which contain the most cockroaches and how to attract them?”

The motorcyclist frowned, “That’s...oddly specific. I don’t know.”

At that moment, Anguis went pale, shaking his head and putting his phone down gently to scoot his chair closer to Yusei, “Never mind. I don’t wanna know.”

* * *

Jounouchi Katsuya was many things, and honestly scared happened to be one of them at the moment.

Kaiba didn’t scare him, the guy was a douchebag with his occasional moments but he was nice to Yugi in action and that was all that matters. Even if his glares would probably freeze a roaring campfire and more than half of his threats were usually genuine.

Unfortunately, the money bags seemed to have made the most unlikeliest of friends in you, which great- the rich kid managed to make friends by himself. It was good progress and he thought you were a decent sort even if he had never held a conversation with you. The issue became hard to ignore when he and the rest of Domino High realized that you could actually be bigger, much _worse_ douchebag than Kaiba was.

The thing with Kaiba is that he never played stupid, he was smart and he expected everyone to know it. Which, he would never admit to his face, was true. But you- you managed to dodge everyone but that red-haired guy’s radar since the beginning, so no one knew. No one was _warned._

 _Kaiba_ could make you suffer financially and all manner of hells that he could inflict since he was such a big influencer in _Japan._

 _You_ could make people suffer in a way he hadn’t thought was possible.

It was kinda admirable how you managed to do it without anyone knowing actually, Kaiba had his explanation, he was rich and he was smart.

But there was having _resources_ and _being able to put almost 500 cockroaches in someone’s locker_ without _anyone_ noticing.

No one knew how you did it, not even the teachers who thought it was you would say otherwise And anyone who might have had a hand said nothing, your initial deterrents to the Kaiba Fanclub, flirting, giving gifts, being nice- they had taken care of the _sane_ members. What were left were the _insane_ ones, the ones that were kind of _hated_ school-wide. The one who just didn’t get the fact that Kaiba was so obviously into you that nearly _everyone_ noticed.

Not including you but you had your own _brand_ of insanity.

So that in mind, he had a healthy sense of self-preservation, which was why he scrambled to help you pick up your stuff after Satomi something-or-other had slammed her pedicured hands onto what you were holding and made everything fall.

“Thanks Katsuya,” You said brightly, accepting the pencil case he had gathered up while you picked up papers. “I’ll tell Kaiba to lay off on you when he gets back.”

“Uh- sure, thanks. And it was no ‘prob,” He replied awkwardly.

He watched you tilt your head at Satomi’s back, thinking.

“I don’t always like painting,” You mused out loud, attracting a crowd as everyone quieted a little to hear. “But when I do- I think I shall go with neon green.”

You walked away.

-

When Satomi walked to school the next day, her hair was a bright neon green and couldn’t even look at you without shaking for a month.

In comparison, you had simply taken one look at her before nodding in satisfaction and recommending a hair color product that matched her original hair color and would go over the bright green. For the sake of preserving themselves, no one accused you of the perpetrator to Satomi’s sudden change in hair color.

* * *

When Anguis first met you, he was being bullied.

It was...well, it wasn't too major but it wasn’t just words either. He had a few bruises from some shoves but it wasn’t as if he was scared for life, just a little tired actually.

Then you came.

You had been the new kid, no one really knew you since everyone who was at Domino High had been there since elementary for the most part. But you were kind of- intimidating to be around, so no one tried to hang out with you, him included.

It wasn’t like Kaiba where he was closed off from everyone and had a general air of superiority that usually intimidated everyone. Not to mention the guy was rich.

When you came, you blended into the background but still held that air of how you somehow knew more than you were letting on. Like you had so much information stuck in that head of yours that the result was you literally giving off an aura like you knew everything. The people who felt pissed off by it usually avoided you after trying to confront you. So it was weird, but if the people were anything to go by- it was probably way safer for him to do the same as everyone else and avoid you.

You were quiet too, teachers tended to try avoid calling on you but it wasn’t as if you were ever wrong when you answered them. Though it was weird that they never seemed to get on your case about not paying attention.

Your sister was also kinda weird. He had seen her a couple times when she was picking you up it seemed. She was more outgoing, as if she was the actual teenager of the relationship and you were the adult. Though she did get you to chuckle a little every now and then. The bright light blue hair of your sister’s was enough to make him think twice of who was actually older.

Still, it wasn’t his issue so he mentally pushed it aside and walked with Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Kalin for their meeting as Enforcers.

-

He didn’t mind when he found out he liked guys the way guys were supposed to like girls, but he wasn’t going to tell his friends either. They were in a separate class from him and only met up at school a few times, meeting up after school instead. He did a good job keeping what he was bullied about a secret and he wasn’t going to jeopardize it over some stupid jeer that didn’t even make sense. (Bright his bullies were not.)

Still, they were a little rougher this time around, shoving him into the wall during their school trip to Ikebukuro. He had to suppress a hiss of pain when a pole attached to the building smacked harshly into his back.

“You okay?”

He blinked up in surprise at you, tilting your head at him.

“Yeah I’m fine,” He replied, suppressing the urge to grunt at the pain that started to grow. “You should catch up with the rest of them.”

“I have the teacher’s phone number,” You rebutted. “And I tend to wander on my own; they know. We can just meet them up at the station later.”

“Ah,” He didn’t have an answer for that and awkward silence issued. Though he wasn’t sure if for whom since you were looking pretty nonplussed about it.

“Come on,” You held out your hand. “I’ll show you something way more entertaining.”

“Um- sure,” He grabbed at your offered hand, mildly surprised when you easily pulled him up and let go. Tilting your head in a direction.

“So- where _are_ we going?” He asked after five minutes of walking.

You pointed straight ahead, a small park area in front of you that stood in solitary in the bustling downtown of Ikebukuro.

You sat down on the bench, lifting yourself to sit criss cross as he moved to sit next to you. Staring at the sea of people walking to and fro.

“What am I looking at again?”

“Wait for it.”

He did- for a few seconds- but teenage impatience won out, “What the hell am I waiting for-”

“IIIIIIIIZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYAAAAAA!”

He watched wide-eyed as a vending machine flew through the sky from his right- slamming into the crosswalk as people scrambled to avoid getting crushed under it.

“What. The. _Fuck_.”

You started snickering as a black-haired man with red eyes and a furry jacket passed by in a run before abruptly stopping, tilting to you in surprise.

“Well well well,” The man grinned wide, slinking over to you like a snake. “Been a long while since I’ve seen you around here.”

You stared at him, “Wasn’t Heiwajima right behind you?”

“Pff, as if a protozoan like him to catch up to me,” The man scoffed. “But I know you well, and I know you well enough to know this isn’t a social call.”

“I can’t just say ‘hi’?” You muttered, frowning at him.

“Nope~” He sang, “That’s why you’re one of my favorite humans. Though I love all humans.”

Anguis simply looked between the two of you, wondering what the hell he got involved with.

You sighed, then proceeded to list the names of his bullies.

 _All_ his bullies.

Which happened to be _ten._ And you apparently knew all of them by name, face, and _age._ Even some minor details here and there- but the biggest surprise was the _addresses._

“You want information on a bunch of brats?” The man tilted his head- as if he wasn’t addressing another _brat_ himself.

“I’m quite annoyed with them,” You said cryptically- like being ‘annoyed’ was actually ‘pissed off’. An interpretation he knew was correct when he saw the man make a face of understanding.

“Fine fine- it’ll be easy, consider this a free one since I like you so much,” The man flapped a hand. “I’ll email you later. You should probably duck.”

“What-”

You didn’t wait as you lifted a hand and firmly pushed him down until he was staring at the floor, the air shifting and something big and _heavy_ sailing across where your heads were a few minutes earlier.

“IIIIIZZZZAAAAAYYYYAAAAA!”

“A little slower than I thought- maybe it’s one of those days,” You muttered under your breath. Sitting up straight again as a blond man in a bar get-up ran by- skidding to a stop.

“You- what are _you_ doing back here?” He questioned- voice rough from yelling and chest heaving.

“School trip, hi Heiwajima.”

“Hey-” The man tilted his head to the sky. “Look I’m gonna go kill the flea but you should probably get an umbrella, it’s gonna rain in a bit. Later.”

And he ran off. Ripping off a _signpost_ that was previously  _cemented_ to the _ground_ with him.

“What,” Anguis repeated again. “The _hell_ was that.”

“The true entertainment of Ikebukuro,” You mused, a small smile on your face. “The daily chase of Shizuo Heiwajima the strong monster of Ikebukuro after Izaya Orihara, Shinjuku's and occasionally Ikebukuro's resident psychopathic asshole informant.”

“This happens _every day_?”

“Eh- five times a day at least, that’s how it was before they made up.”

“Five- _that guy just threw a vending machine four meters_.”

“Yeah, it happens,” You tapped your finger on your knee. “I got what I wanted though, playing nice with Orihara has its perks despite some of the consequences. At least Heiwajima likes me enough to beat up anyone who wants to kidnap me.”

“Yeah- uh, what was that about anyway?”

“I don’t like bullies,” You said simply. Leveling Anguis a bored look that held a hidden layer of barely restrained- he didn’t know what to call it. Blood lust just seem a little tame.

“Right-” Anguis facepalmed himself. “How simple- you just- you just _don’t like bullies. ‘I don’t like bullies’_ you say as if you just didn’t have a weird normal-sounding conversation with two people that you have _literally_ described as _a monster_ and a _psychopath_.”

"Heiwajima is a lot nicer and well adjusted compared to Orihara.”

“UGH.” Anguis shook his head. “That’s it- no more, you have a really fucked up definition of what’s okay. We’re friends now so you can learn about what is totally okay and what should qualify as _batshit insane_.”

“Sure okay." You paused, giving him a small smile, one without any traces of the absolute insanity that you revealed. "Wanna get some sushi?”

He sighed, “ _Love to_.”

-

The next day, the bullies were suspiciously inch-ing around him, to which he rolled his eyes.

“Begone!”

You had looked over from where you stood idly next to him, eyeing his bullies with a flat expression, “Thot.”

They ran- a little like their tails were tucked in between their legs. While you were smiling peacefully in satisfaction.

Anguis shook his head at you, “You’re really fucked up.”

You shrugged. “Wanna share the umbrella?”

“Fine.”

* * *

 When Kaiba came back, a lot of the school were mildly unsettled and Satomi- his most annoying so-called _fan_ was giving him a wide berth.

“What did you do?” He questioned- because he was curious. He’s heard about cockroaches, green hair, suspicious packages that were filled with apparently embarrassing secrets. All in all- it wasn’t that bad.

He would deny it but any outsider could tell him that he was biased.

“Eh- nothing too traumatizing,” You hummed. “I didn’t do the meat thing- so pretty tame really. Oh- and can you lay off Katsuya for a like- a fortnight? He helped me out a bit.”

“With what?”

“Helped me pick up that one crazy lady’s pencil box before anyone noticed. I filled it up with unsharpened bad American dollar store quality pencils and dismantled the class sharpener before I slipped it back into her bag.”

Kaiba gave you a considering look, “Did you take all her pens?”

You nodded.

“Satisfactory.”

You gave him a light  _cheers_ with your little cup of hot chocolate- to which he answered in kind as repayment for having you deal with all of his fangirl’s shit alone for two weeks. The rain pattering behind the windows as the two of you settled in the café a ways away from Domino High- ditching your last class in favor of giving Kaiba a little (highly edited) report about what happened while he was gone.

It wasn’t as if anyone would say anything to your faces after the past two weeks.

“Where _did_ you get the cockroaches?” He asked after a moment of silence.

You smiled gleefully at him, sliding him his belated present. A felted- slightly lopsided Blue Eyes White Dragon.

He sighed and accepted it, knowing you would consider it payment for the information.  

“I caught them.”

He let out a huff, “You’re disgusting.”

You smiled at him. 

The nicer smile that held no trace of the hell you had inflicted in the school while he had been away. 

* * *

_**A/n:** _ _Hopefully everyone enjoyed the holidays as I did- especially considering this thing is really late since I had finals the week before my break. School starts up again next week for me so- whoop. There goes my vacation. This chapter was pretty fun and I've been making okay progress on the one-shot. So- all is okay.  
I also got back into Shizaya so- incase you didn't notice. _

**_Dedications to:_ **

**_Dianasaurus94:_ ** _Hope you enjoyed it- don't worry, memelord reader has only begun their reign of terror. No one will be left unscarred- except for maybe Kaiba who's more amused by the whole thing. Fangirls today- paparazzi tomorrow. Yes. That's a hint. Thanks for reading~_

 **_Catoptromancer:_ ** _Nope~ just some plain old stupid pick up lines I came up with on the fly (the idea was to be weird and really really really terrible) lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter's insanity too, thanks for reading!_

 **_KayomieLatoro:_ ** _Hope you enjoyed this too, thanks for reading~_

 **_HibiscusMist:_ ** _Heh- well I hope you've gotten over whatever sickness you were hit with. And yeah- quite frankly, Joey would laugh at Kaiba's threats but gulp and nod frantically at Reader. The memeing shall continue! Thanks for reading!_

 **_Polirange:_ ** _Yeah ADHD can be a kick in the balls sometimes- I'm usually good at managing it since it's not severe but when it hits- it really **hits** and annoying. Especially when you're trying to concentrate on something like a good little responsible person. I hope you continue to enjoy this crack idea of mine~_

 **_You the Reader:_ ** _Have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_


	8. Chill

Chapter 8, Chill

* * *

You tilted your head, staring out the small window of your apartment at the paparazzi bellow. While the tenant wouldn’t let them in, it didn’t stop them from hovering outside the building.

Apparently your little stint with Kaiba had been captured via photograph and posted online, and there were so many theories. All of which were wrong. 

You were not, in fact, dating Kaiba. 

Honestly, where did they get  _ that  _ impression? The whole matter itself was ridiculous in a sad way. Regardless, the public was ravenous in their need for information, so here they were. Outside your building hoping to make some quick cash. They were lucky you didn’t have school that day, you wouldn’t have opted for a less property damage solution if you were in a rush and irritated. 

On the plus side, it was raining. A light shower that pelted at them persistently but lightly. Which was mildly amusing as they stood miserably in the rain. 

Without looking, you picked up your cell phone,  _ You’re Not Me  _ playing loud and proud on the speakers, “Yessss?”

_ “You’ve seen the news.”  _

“Na, I’m just staring outside my window,” You said in monotone, enough to barely stop behind the line of  _ deadpan. _ “It’s very nice, raining, cloudy, full of rats bellow.” 

_ “They’ve figured out where you  _ **_live_ ** _?”  _ There was some cursing and rapid typing in the background.  _ “I’ll be there in ten.”  _

“You don’t have to,” You peered down at the second door open window. A pipeline of slime-filled water balloons about to take their first victims. The mess had been worth it. You were happy that your tenant had a sense of humor- considering they had let you use the extra drainage materials to set it up. “I’ve got it. I wasn’t planning on going out anyway.” 

_ “...what are you doing?”  _

“I think you might want to keep the plausible deniability,” You joked. 

_ “I don’t have time for your games right now.”  _

You rolled your eyes at his snappy growl, “Nothing illegal. They can’t even charge me with assault, it’s fine. You should see some of the assholes who used to stalk my sister. You’d have their dicks nailed to your wall, if  _ she  _ didn’t get to them first. There was one vagina but I don’t think those things can be cut out without some serious damage.” 

Without pause, Kaiba continued.  _ “That information is irrelevant to me.”  _ Though he did sound a bit exasperated, and a tiny  _ tiny absolutely  _ **_minuscule_ ** bit worried. 

“I’m  _ fine  _ Kaiba, really,” You sighed, peeking out from the top of the window. “A couple of pushy people with no sense of privacy with cameras aren’t exactly the most intimidating thing ever. Hell-  _ you’re  _ more intimidating than all- uh. Hold on- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, t-twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen? Yeah- sixteen of them. These guys aren’t that scary.”

You paused for a moment as you watched one of the balloons fall and drop on top of a huddle of them. Not feeling the least bit bad when the splatters of slime gooped all over them.

“Though I do feel a  _ tiny tiny  _ bit bad. The rain is like- an inch and a half? There’s not a lot of coverage where they’re standing.”

You sighed. 

_ “What are you thinking?”  _

“I’ll get back to you in like- two hours Kaiba,” You switched your grip on your phone, squeezing it in between your ear and your shoulder. “I’ve got some stuff to do.” 

_ “....” _

You froze for a minute, “You okay? I mean- this whole thing is no big deal. I’m not lying when I say that a bunch of people crowding my proverbial doorstep isn’t that much of a big deal- I’m repeating myself aren’t I? Really Kaiba, on a list of issues that I have this is like- not even top ten.” 

_ “It’s not what I expected from you.”  _

You rose an eyebrow, straightening and allowing the phone to drop into your hand to press against your ear. “Meaning?” 

_ “You’re calm. You aren’t angry.”  _

“There’s...nothing to be mad about?” Honestly, the man was very confusing. “You’re a famous man Kaiba, people tend to make quick assumptions about people in the public eye. The whole- if you’re in the public eye people sort of put you under public property unconsciously- or consciously it depends. So it’s pretty obvious that people would assume you’re in a relationship with someone you’re having coffee with. As much as I don’t get why you take it black. You’re not exactly known for your outside exertions.” You chuckled a little, “So really Kaiba- it’s not that big of a deal.” 

_ “They’ll harass you.”  _

“Pretty sure that’s a crime,” You mused. “But I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.” 

_ “I’ll speak with you later.”  _

You nodded, in spite of the fact that you  _ knew  _ he wouldn't be able to see you. Maybe. 

You gave your laptop a significant look just in case. 

“See ya’” You chirped before ending the call. Whistling as you looked at the watch nearby, shifting your eye to the pelted paparazzi bellow. Sufficiently covered in PVA glue and baking soda mixed semi-solids. 

“Eh,” You muttered. “I’ll give them a half hour of punishment.” 

You walked back into your room to crash on the bed, opening your laptop to scroll the internet to whatever caught your interest.

* * *

 

You hummed as you walked back into your apartment, climbing to peek out the window. 

A self-satisfied smile came on your face as you found your proverbial doorstep empty. 

“Sometimes,” You twisted your neck into a satisfying pop as you walked back to shove the wooden tray back in its place, the small kitchenette slightly dirtied by random piles of chocolate powder. “The stick and carrot method is very effective.” 

Though you hoped your neighbors didn’t mind when you totally put their kids under the bus, it wouldn’t help your case to be the cause for their slimed selves. Not like it was a big deal, they deserved it, and those kids were like Merry and Pippin meet the Marauders. Total chaos and the occasional rave. 

You settled in your seat for another round of internet surfing. 

You blinked at the knock at the door- shaking yourself both physically and mentally from your brief delve into the complexities of building desktops. 

Yes it was very random but such were sessions of internet surfing. 

You peeked through the little peephole before opening up the door, giving the taller man a lazy wave. “Hey.” 

Kaiba stood, slightly damp with the umbrella at his side, looking a little lost. 

“There was no one on your doorstep.” 

You shrugged, “Stick and carrot.”

It was a testament to how long Kaiba had known you when he just scowled before walking in without prompting. 

“You got rid of them with slime and  _ chocolate?”  _

_ Hm, must have used the trashcan nearby,  _ You thought distractedly, grabbing the necessary equipment for a dismal (to Kaiba’s standards) but polite cup of coffee (the instant stuff- a barista you were not). 

It was a contemplative silence Kaiba was used to, you would be following a topic in your mind to think about what to say, then you would get distracted and wonder about things related to the sentences but not quite about the topic. Usually, it would both irritate and fascinate- but right now it was bordering annoying. 

He wasn’t used to this. While he had never been in a relationship before, he was fully aware that this level of  _ calm  _ wasn’t normal for anyone. It wasn’t fair to put you under the same assumption but there had to be  _ something  _ that would stay the same. That would apply.  _ Mokuba  _ got irritated at the paparazzi for Blue Eyes’ sake. Your seemingly nonplussed attitude was grating on his nerves because he wasn’t sure if you were putting on a farce for his benefit or you were genuinely just stupidly serene about the whole thing where others would be demanding Kaiba to fix it. 

But he had no choice but to wait it out, frankly, he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that pushing it would help. If anything- it would make things worse. 

“I think,” You said slowly, your face scrunched up in concentration as you tried to dredge your intent from where it had been laid forgotten. “I was trying to appeal to their humanity.” 

He accepted the offered cup and tried to put himself in your position. Difficult- but it did make sense that your warped point of view would believe the most effective solution was to make the flies feel horrible about themselves for bothering you. 

He sighed, attempting to curb the majority of his irritation, “Did you answer their questions?” 

“Not any about you,” You said, settling on the floor, crossing your legs. “Though I did answer some stuff about me honestly.” 

“Such as?” 

You shrugged, “Just about knowing you, they brought up my sister and I pulled up the whole ‘kicked-puppy’ thing to shut them up about it. Then they asked about you and some really intrusive questions about your uh- um.” 

Kaiba watched interestedly as you looked away from him to clear your throat, “G-genital- Your sexual organs. They asked me about your sexual organs.” 

“It’s singular,” Kaiba said, amusement bubbling from annoyance. There were very few times he managed to witness a typical juvenile characteristic from you, and he fully intended to enjoy. 

“Singular? But, what about- Eh?” You were frowning again, trying to apparently make sense of the literary bombshell had thrown at you. “Well- I mean. Does it count as one organ? Doesn’t it have different parts?”

“Are you implying that I have more than one pen-”

“NOPE,” You shot up from your seat to shush him with your hands. Visibly- it didn’t seem like you were that affected but he could feel the sudden sweat begin to collect on your palms. It helped that you seemed to be attempting to look him in the eye. “Never mind. I don’t need to know- from you. I’ll j-just google it later. Yeah.” 

You winced and quickly removed your hands from his mouth, wiping it down on your obviously well used jogging pants, “Sorry.”

You were straddling him from where he was seated, it would be lying if he said he found it less than appealing. Especially considering you had apparently overlooked the compromising position in lew of your embarrassment. Though he had to consider if you knew about  _ it  _ and was messing around or if you were truly oblivious. Which was both a relief and just plain  _ irritating  _ at the same time. 

“What did you tell them?” He said instead, reaching to grab the plain mug of coffee to drink. Winding around the arms you had placed around his torso while your legs shifted to put most of the weight where your knees hand landed between his legs. 

“Uh- said I wasn’t gonna answer. Really personal and it’s not like I’ve seen it before,” You still tried to avoid looking at him. “There was one reporter- female I think. She was really pushy and had a really weird hair color, bronze blonde with a small hint of darker brown near the roots. Her blush was put higher than her cheekbones and she was clearly wearing colored contacts and false eyelashes. I really don’t get why she decided to make her lips bigger than they are but whatever it’s not like I know how to use makeup but it kinda made her look like she should be working er- elsewhere. She looked tacky I guess, some people could make it work but I don’t think she is one of those people.” 

He rolled his eyes, recognizing the quickly derailing yet detailed description, “Yataro. She’s ridiculously annoying and has been vying for some sort of dirt on me since I rejected her.”

“She asked if you were good in bed,” You continued, as if never have been interrupted in the first place. 

He rose an eyebrow, “Did you say yes?”

“Wha-?! No! I avoided the question! I mean,” You made a weird (Kaiba hated the fact that he couldn’t describe it as anything else) sound in your throat. “I may or may not have implied that you were pretty good but it’s not like I would know! I’m underage for goodness sake, sex isn’t exactly top on my list of priorities. It’s like being a virgin with no access to pleasure tools or references and telling me to write a fucking  _ erotica.  _ How am I even supposed to  _ know  _ if you’re good when I don’t have a frame of reference??”

He couldn’t restrain the snort. 

“Did- did you just  _ laugh at me _ ?”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, restraining himself from releasing what could have been anything from a chuckle to straight up obnoxious laughter. “You just called sex toys  _ pleasure tools.  _ How much of a prude are you, really? I’m not sure why I expected you to be nonplussed by it when the opposite is so obviously frank.” 

“All the jokes I’ve been dropping since I met you officially and this- _this_ is what amuses you?”

“You can’t even say  _ penis. _ ” 

“Don’t say it!”

He put down the finished mug of coffee and grabbed your chin between his fingers, forcing you to look him in the eye. “ _ Penis _ .” 

You whined, smacking his arm, “Stop it. Really, it’s weird when you say it with a straight face like that.” 

“You can say  _ dick  _ but you can’t say penis.” 

“Saying dick counts as an insult- it’s different when you say p-p-THAT. It’s different when you say  _ that _ !” 

“Really. I never knew.” 

“Ugh let it go already, I can’t say it alright? It’s weird and it makes me uncomfortable and it- it-.” 

“It  _ what _ ?”

“Ugh,” You slumped, allowing your neck to relax and forcing Kaiba to take the brunt of your weight in his hands. “I really don’t wanna tell you.” 

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “If you really didn’t want to, you wouldn’t. I’m not forcing you.” 

“Again with the eye rolling, you didn’t eye-roll nearly as much before.” 

“You’re a terrible influence, and you’re sidetracking. Why are you so uncomfortable with it?”

“It’s so  _ weird  _ though.”

“As if you aren’t the very definition.” 

“Ugh touché,” You forced yourself forward, pressing your eyes in the crook between his neck and shoulder. 

Again, Kaiba wondered if you knew and were just messing around or you were actually truly this fucking  _ oblivious?  _ He wasn’t sure which was  _ worse.  _

“A couple years back,” You muttered, low enough that he was sure you were hoping he wouldn't be able to hear. As if. “When you made your duelist debut I got curious about you- start up high schooler who was running his own company. Kisa thought it was funny but she left me alone about it.” 

“Flashback to after you bought Duel Monsters from Pegasus, you came up again and started getting  _ really  _ popular. The whole handsome, bachelor, billionaire thing. Then I started googling things.” 

“Then the  _ other  _ things started popping up. Fanfiction, fanart- um.” 

He could already tell where this was going- because Mokuba brought it up to him because he thought it was  _ funny  _ and it resulted in him getting grounded from the internet for a  _ month.  _

“Is this your long and useless way to tell me that the reason why you’re so awkward with the word is because you found a porn video with my  _ face  _ on it?” 

You pulled back suddenly, incredulous, “You  _ know  _ about it?” 

“Mokuba found it,” He scowled. “It was inaccurate.” 

“You-  _ Mokuba?  _ **_Holy fucking shit_ ** .” 

“I can’t believe you’re awkward around  _ penis  _ just because you stumbled on some poorly made video.”

“Stop saying-  _ what do you mean poorly made?!  _ Well- actually yeah it fucking sucked.” You took a breath. “And in  _ my  _ defense, it wasn’t weird until I made friends with  _ you _ .” 

You visibly winced, “And now every time I think of the word the image pops up and it’s just-  _ no  _ good fuck  _ no _ . Wait-  _ what the hell do you mean it’s freaking  _ **_inaccurate_ ** _?!”  _

“It’s not accurate. You’re not stupid, I’m relatively certain you know the definition.” 

“I know what it  _ means  _ damn it but- seriously?” 

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “I do not look like  _ that _ .” 

“I- wha- now I’m horrifyingly curious.” 

“Your internet search history can attest to that.” 

“So you  _ were  _ hacking into my laptop!” You poked him in the chest. “Invasion of privacy!” 

“You clearly knew, why else would you make faces at your  _ laptop _ ?” 

“I was covering my bases! Who knows with you? ‘Cause apparently you watch freakin’  _ porn  _ of yourself.”

“It was  _ Mokuba  _ and I already grounded him for a month.” 

“Weak.”

“Tch- he’s already removed the tracking system in his devices, what he does now is out of my hands.” 

“Still,” You cringed. “Don’t say the word.” 

“We’re calling it ‘ _ the word’  _ now?” 

“Can we  _ move  _ on?” 

“I’m not sure, can  _ you _ ?”

“Never- but I’m not gonna talk about it with  _ you  _ of all people  _ fuck _ ,” You shook your head. “That would be beyond weird and pushing the boundaries of what I have come to understand as friendship.” 

“If I can’t say the p-word you can’t say the f-word.” 

“I can’t believe I made you say that holy shit- wait, f-word? I can’t say fuck?” 

“You can’t say  _ friendship _ .” 

“Oh- uh, weird but okay. To each ‘s own. Why are you weird about that by the way? You heard my take on the p-word but the hell’s your deal with the  _ f-word _ ?”

“Téa Gardner.” 

“That- that gives me no context what-so-ever but okay. I’ll leave it at that, I think it was Anguis who told me she was famous for her f-word speeches.” 

“You don’t say that  _ ridiculous  _ word then I won’t say it. Deal?” 

“Fine fine.” Then you paused. “But-  _ why _ ?” 

“Just don’t.” 

“Okay.” 

There was a relaxing silence, contemplative but not quite uncomfortable. Then you decided to ruin it. 

“So yeah, I just talked them into going away.” 

“You realize that there are going to be paparazzi you can’t just  _ talk  _ away with hot chocolate and throwing slime at them?” 

“Yeah, it’s fine. I have a plan for that too.” 

“Do you now?” 

You nodded vigorously, “Two words actually.” 

Kaiba narrowed his eyes, “And they are?”

“Heiwajima. Orihara.” 

Kaiba felt a chill going down his spine, because of course- of fucking  _ course  _ you would know who those two are. Of course, you would just  _ happen  _ to know them well enough to ask them for a damn  _ favor.  _ You probably even knew them well enough to have them stop their ridiculous fighting and work  _ together  _ for once like every damn gang in that place  _ feared.  _

Them and now the paparazzi apparently, he should have met you  _ earlier.  _

He narrowed his eyes at your stupid grin. “Now I understand why those idiots were so afraid.” 

“Eh?”

* * *

_A/n: GUESS WHO'S LATE?? ME. GUESS WHO'S ALSO IN THE MIDDLE OF SCHOOL? ALSO MOI. That being said, this was actually pretty fun to write won't lie. Especially the last part. It was pretty fun. Other than that, I don't really have much to say in all honesty. There's really not much for me to say- other than a friend got me obsessed with Haikyuu._

_Fuck you_ by _the way, you're not gonna read it but I need to reinforce it._  
  
_Anyway, let's do this._

_**Dedications To:** _

_**HibiscusMist:** Indeed it does //snort// But I'm glad you're feeling better. Thanks for reading like always!_

**_6f0909:_ ** _A little more affectionate Kaiba and dumbass oblivious reader! I'm glad you enjoyed the banter in the last chapter and continue to! Thanks for reading~_

**_Dianasaurus94:_ ** _I certainly hoped that you enjoyed this chapter as well, look forward to continued awkward!memelord!Reader lol. Thanks for reading!_

**_KayomieLatoro:_ ** _In case you missed it, Kaiba was just arranging a corporate party lol. (And it had been winter holidays at the time when I wrote it but posted it late RIP. And do not fear if you feel like the paparazzi was let off too easy, this is just part 1 of the...party. Thanks for reading!_

_**You the Reader:** Thanks for reading, have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night! _

_See_ ya'll _in the next chapter~_

 


	9. Tepid

Chapter 9, Tepid 

* * *

“Your wrists are big.”

Given the fact that he had pulled two all-nighters on the account of a now  _ fired  _ employee’s blunder to fix said blunder- he blinked slowly as the sentence registered. 

You were folded into yourself on the chair you had dragged besides his desk. Your arms folded on the desk to his left, close enough that you could rest your head in your arm while staying out of his way. A strange balance you somehow achieved in the time you had decided to stay in his office. 

“That is relevant to me  _ how _ ?” 

You shrugged at him, still staring at his hands that were rested across his keyboard.

“You’re wrists are big. But you’re fingers are thin, yet your overall hand ratio is still even enough that it doesn’t look that off,” You scowled to yourself. “Seriously- what is with you and winning the universe game of genetics? I could even tell that Mokuba would grow up to be one hell of a looker by the time he hits your age.” 

Now he was a little amused, “Jealous?” 

You smiled easily, pointing a finger at him with the hand that wasn’t tucked under your arm, “Some people just didn’t grow up with fangirls and fanboys, and it shows.” 

He rolled his eyes. 

You snicked, leaning back against the chair with your legs further tucked into yourself. Chin resting on your knees. “Done?” 

“For now,” Kaiba admitted, pressing his fingers and thumb against the bridge of his nose. Two nights catching up with him. “There is  _ always  _ another crisis.” 

“Kay.” 

Then he realized something. 

You had arrived with him on Friday, and sat yourself in his office at the same time of his arrival. It was Sunday. 

You had never  _ moved.  _ He didn’t recall if you slept either. 

He narrowed his eyes at you, to which you slowly blinked at him in response. 

“You haven’t slept.” 

You shrugged, “Nah.” 

“You haven’t slept for  _ two days _ .” 

“Ah...pot,” You mumbled. “We meet again.” 

“I’m used to this schedule,” He sighed, getting up from his seat. “You are a millimeter away from rolling forward and implanting your face on my floor. As much as I put up with you- everyone has a limit.” 

You giggled, “I’d be fucking immortal.” 

“Up.” 

“What are you- my  _ parent _ ?” You snorted, allowing your body to pitch forward. Catching yourself on your feet at the last moment to slowly stand straight with a lazy waddle. Looking both impossibly drunk and coordinated at the same time. “ _ Weeeeeee. _ Oh  _ fuck  _ your hands are cold.” 

“I don’t understand how you can be sitting in a thin t-shirt, basketball shorts, barefooted and still be  _ this stupidly warm _ . In the middle of  _ 0-degree _ weather.” 

“What the fuck-? 0? Oh- celsius. 32 degrees then. I don’t get that actually. I get why celsius  _ exists  _ but why do we use it for weather? I mean- the Americans are screwed up on literally  _ every  _ measurement but their use of Fahrenheit because it’s a measurement to the comparison of the human body- so what the hell.” You grumbled, slapping at Kaiba’s hands that were on your shoulders. “You are fucking  _ cold. _ ”

“Even if I have the heater on it should be  _ impossible  _ that you are  _ this  _ warm.” 

“Yeah well-” You shrugged. “I store heat more. Even Kisa complained about that a lot. Sweaty palms see?” 

You wiped at his face, and you weren’t lying about the sweat. 

“That is  _ disgusting.”  _

“You asked- and then you made that face you always make when you’re skeptical about something so I just proved it. Duh.” 

He scowled, shoving you enough for you to start scrambling for balance. Flailing slightly as you caught yourself again. 

“Were it not for the laws of this land- you’d already be dead,” You muttered. Twisting your body around so your back was resting against the stiff ground. Looking up at the ceiling in a dead gaze. 

Kaiba simply rolled his eyes, taking you by the ankle and dragging you out. 

Thankfully, nylon and cotton just slid across the asshole’s wooden floors. Leaving you content to just go along for the ride.

* * *

 

If you were in a more rested state of mind, you would have noted the oddity that was the fact that you were sitting next to Kaiba on his king bed. Alas, you were not well rested, and therefore- you gave little to no shit. About anything, and  _ everything _ .

“You think they past first base yet?” 

Though you weren’t facing him, you could tell that Kaiba very much did not want to answer that question. It was obvious in the pointed silence. 

“I mean- I heard a couple of our classmates saying that they were a lot closer than usual. That’s the tea apparently,” You muttered and continued to stare up at the ceiling. “And then you also have to consider-”

“I don’t care.”

You shrugged, “I know you don’t. But I’m bored and awake and now you shall suffer with me.”

You should have expected it when he tried to suffocate you with a pillow. As soft and as plush as it was, he wasn’t winning this game. You easily cackled as you rolled yourself off the bed last minute. Landing on the floor with a solid thud, your palms outstretched in resting push-up position to catch your fall, and scrambling to your feet. 

Laughing like a deranged hyena, you proceeded to get the hell out of dodge and sped out the door. Gripping the guard rail of the staircase and flipping yourself over. Planting your feet on the outside of the stairs and walk-sliding down the steps. Narrowly avoiding the occasional hired helper and speeding towards the other lighted room. Sliding into it like a baseball player before turning around to lock the door. 

“Nyehehehehe,” You crookedly proclaimed, punching a fist into the air. “I win.”

You ignored the loud cursing from the other side of the door.

* * *

 

You woke up with drool on your face. 

“Hmpfa,” You muttered. Frowning as you found that you, for the life of you, could not recall what exactly happened the day before. And you were  _ pretty  _ damn sure you have never even touched a bottle in recent memory so you were also relatively positive you weren’t blackout drunk. That being said- alcohol is not the only reason for this issue. 

You turned your head slightly to look at the watch, noon having already been past. 

“Well.” You hummed. “Shit.” 

You tilted your head up from the rug you had apparently migrated to, watching as the game you had apparently been playing remained on its screensaver. The character tiredly shuffling back and forth for what was probably hours now. 

“Dude,” You whispered into the empty room. “ _ Mood _ .” 

You let your head smack back against the floor, the small rug doing nothing to lessen the pain as you shifted your focus to your peripherals. Noting the soft blue (seriously?) colored couch next to you. 

With that, you had a plan. 

You flopped your hand out, gripping the fabric with as much strength as you could muster, while simultaneously pulling yourself up with herculean effort. (Not really) Flopping yourself on  _ properly  _ on the couch. 

“Yay,” You moaned on the couch, sinking in. “Now I’m just starving.” 

“ _ Alexa  _ what day is it?” You wondered out loud. Snorting after the fact, because Kaiba would  _ never- _

_ “The current date is…” _

Oh that son of a fuck. 

You proceeded to damage your already hurting gut as you proceeded to guffaw until you slid down the couch again. At the very least you know your blackout was caused by  _ insomnia  _ and not you finally cracking and trying that oh-so-funny looking drink that Kisa never let you  _ near.  _ Go figure. 

With the resolve of a human seeking the meaning to life, you pushed yourself off the ground and went out the door.

* * *

 

You crept into the kitchen, freezing as a mass of black hair was sitting on a chair eating cereal. You knew  _ exactly  _ who it was. 

“Dude,” You muttered under your breath. Catching the kid’s attention as he looked up mid-crunch. “You do  _ not  _ eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast.” 

“It’s cereal?” He questioned around a mouth of the stuff.  _ That is disgusting yet understandable. I totally did that to my sister on purpose once.  _ “I’m pretty sure it’s a breakfast too.” 

You leveled your eyes at him, an expression you used on Kaiba frequently when you thought he was being too obtuse, “ _ Do you have school? _ ” 

The kid stiffened, swallowing. “Yes?”

“How long until you have to go?” 

“Uh,” Mokuba looked up at the kitchen clock. “Like- an  _ hour _ ?” 

“Do you have anything else to do after you finish eating?” 

“....no?” 

“ _ Excellent.”  _

You then proceeded to conquer and take control of the kitchen. 

Commanding the kitchen was not unlike a military campaign. You told this person to do this, told that person to do that, all while you were in full concentration mode focusing on the cheese omelet you were making while you had Mokuba monitoring the french toast. The smell of cooking garlic butter from a pan nearby wafted through the kitchen and up the house in a deliberate attempt to draw out the more elusive and probably more morning angry Kaiba. No matter, you and the staff had a cup of soulless rocket fuel to please the all mighty grumpy grump of the Kaiba household. 

And as if he were the devil himself, Kaiba appeared. 

You didn’t look as staff scrambled to greet him, waving a spatchula, attention fully on the eggs “Sup.” 

You heard Kaiba grumble and shuffle around the kitchen, someone handing him a cup of coffee. Probably on the hopes that they wouldn’t get fired for letting you take command. Not that you gave them much of a choice but it was nice to let Kaiba instill the fear of CEO Billionaire Jackass into them every once in a while, because you had a very mild feeling that the man just might explode if he didn’t. (If anyone  _ did  _ get fired however- that was a different story altogether) 

You hummed as you slid the egg off the pan and into the plate, tapping the younger Kaiba on the shoulder, “How goes the eastern front?” 

“All crisp captain,” Mokuba drawled, flipping the french toast one last time before moving it to the plate. “Permission to deploy powdered sugar?” 

“Granted,” You ordered, with equal seriousness.

“Brats,” Kaiba grumbled. “All of you.” 

Mokuba snickered while you simply cackled your head off, sliding Kaiba a plate of the freshly cooked eggs. “Eat some eggs Seto, you’re not you when you’re hungry.”

* * *

 

“What the hell,” You complained, staring at Kaiba walk-in unflinchingly as he went into his office at Kaiba Corp. “How are you  _ not  _ sweating buckets?” 

_ It’s so damn hot in here what the actual fuck.  _

“Considering you were the one who  _ steamed  _ when we walked outside- I  _ don’t  _ want to hear  _ anything  _ from you,” Kaiba growled. “ _ Some  _ of us have  _ normal body functions _ that  _ require  _ **_layers_ ** .” 

“You are wearing a  _ suit  _ under a  _ thick trench coat _ ,” You emphasized. “ _ I  _ took a  _ scalding hot shower  _ before coming out here like a normal- very bad at self-restraining person.” 

_ He looks good though.  _

“You can at least take the trench coat off, I feel like my  _ ass  _ is sweating just looking at you.”   
He looked you dead in the eye, “Then _suffer_.” 

“That. Is.  _ It,”  _ You hissed, launching yourself at him and fully intending to  _ rip  _ that coat off if you had too. It wasn’t the stupid sleeveless trench coat so all bets of that fucker remaining intact were off.  

* * *

 

Mikaido Haruna was a simple secretary who has spent the few years working her way around the shitstorm that was CEO Seto Kaiba. A smart CEO he was, a personable boss he was not. No matter how much younger he was in comparison to her, he acted much older. As such, she had quickly learned to navigate the several different modes of Kaiba- and it was a pleasant surprise when someone close to his age managed to draw out those teen characteristics. 

So when she walked into Kaiba’s office to witness you wrapped around Kaiba like a koala as you grunted with a hiss- she was mildly surprised to find Kaiba whipping his elbow to your face- repeatedly. She was even more shocked when you simply readjusted your legs’ grip on his waist and let yourself fall off a little to avoid the hit.

“I’m telling you,” You growled. “It is too fucking hot for you to wear the damn trench coat! Take it off!” 

“As if,” Kaiba grunted, trying and failing to ram you in the side with his elbow- which damnit, should have been less difficult considering his arms were significantly longer. “I would  _ let you _ .” 

“I’m not asking for your fucking underwear you Kirin  _ prick _ ,” You hissed. “Just take the coat off! It’s one fucking layer! You’ll survive!” 

“Get off of me!” 

“Not until you take the damn coat off!” 

She found the site hard to ignore, as it took years of being in Kaiba’s presence to restrain the snort of laughter at the ridiculous site. 

“Your fucked up body temperature is making  _ me  _ hot- get off of me!”

She believed that was the first time she’s ever heard Kaiba curse. 

“I’d rather die!” 

“Then  _ perish!”  _

That’s when she broke, a snort involuntarily passing her lips as she immediately slammed her hand against her mouth. The both of you whipping your heads in her direction as she quickly turned to the side to hide the upturn of her lips. 

“And that was when she knew,” You muttered. “She fucked up.”

Then you proceeded to use the distraction to slide Kaiba’s coat off in one fluid motion. Hopping over the desk and swinging the coat around like a matador goading a bull. 

“HAH! Eat shit asshole!” 

“Mr. Kaiba,” Mikaido said- brushing down her amusement in place of professionalism. “The Duel Links beta is ready for testing.”

“Good.” Kaiba smoothed down his slightly wrinkled suit, his hair shifting back into place with a simple comb over as he came back to the terror CEO he was well known for. To which he glared at you. “You’re coming with.”

“Sure sure,” You waved a flippant hand. Laying the trench out over the nearby couch. “How many cards do you have uploaded?” 

She watched in silence as the two of you organized yourselves in mere seconds. Acting more adult like than some of the adults she knew personally as the two of you went back and forth on information and suggestion. The quick change was enough to almost make her head spin, yet- 

When she looked,  _ really  _ looked, there was a certain ease in Kaiba’s shoulders that were hard to miss. They were more forward, lax instead of severely pulled back in an aggressive manner. Contrasted by your slight hunch yet still exuding a comfortable aura that only Mokuba Kaiba ever had, brushing off his harsh remarks and getting him to huff in amusement every now and then.

It was when you smacked him in the arm with a hyena-like cackle that she realized that you probably had an advantage of having little to no sanity.

* * *

 

You hummed at the smartphone, tilting your head at the hand before coming to a decision and recklessly putting down two face downs. Kaiba silently continued the game, in reply. Attacking your face down. Activating your mirror force- to which Kaiba could not retaliate and subsequently lost the game. 

The entire development department held their breath. 

“I think you should take out mirror force from the deck,” You barreled on, clicking off the duel screen and looking up at him from the other chair. “It’s way too overpowered right now to have it around.” 

“How do you suggest we replace it with?” Kaiba asked, mind reeling. “Magic cylinder?” 

“Maybe later- but I’m thinking more Mirror Wall,” You shrugged. “The 2000LP penalty should even out the amount of people using it- but it can have the same effect. Mirror force is too overpowered right now because of the possibility of complete demolition- it would make the duels too fast. The only viable way to include it would be to cap but the cards but it’s too early game to put it in.” 

“If that’s the case then we have to disclude monster reborn as well.”

“Well Call of the Haunted does a pretty good job already and it has more weaknesses than Monster Reborn. If anything we should heavily consider MST- do we even need it?” 

“MST is too overpowered, new players would be demolished in mere seconds. Double Cyclone would be a viable replacement.”

“Sounds good- are you gonna put a cap of kuriboh? I mean, it’s hard to pull off the Detonate Multiply combo on this game unless the numbers are right- but kuriboh itself is going to cause some issues.”

“Cap on the first few months, once the negation cards start being available it should even out the kuriboh use- especially for those trying to emulate Muto’s deck.” 

“I guess that could work,” You hummed staring down at the card catalog built-into the game. “I mean- since you’re making Mirror Wall in the third card box than negation cards aren’t that necessary except for stuff like DeSpell and Remove Trap.” 

This went on for roughly a half hour before Kaiba turned and gave orders to the development theme. The rest just nodding as necessary before witnessing you kick Kaiba in the shin. Making a sharp nod towards the team. 

They watched as your expression changed with Kaiba’s, speaking without talking. Yet also progressively rising in the level of agitation before you pouted and smacked him in the arm. 

“...The work is adequate,” Kaiba admitted after a moment. Turning to the team, still holding a surly air as he stared them down. “I expect these updates done by the end of the month for testing.” 

The stunned team only nodded as the two of you left. You snickering and smacking Kaiba behind the elbow. 

Aiko, the recent recruit just turned to the senior members of the team with an amazed expression, “What the  _ hell  _ was that?” 

His lead, Makoto, just shook her head, “I have  _ no  _ idea.”

* * *

 

“I still dunno why your hands are so dang cold,” You muttered, your hand sandwiching one of Kaiba’s as the two of you walked. “It’s like  _ ice. _ ” 

“ _ My  _ temperature is  _ normal _ ,” He growled. “It’s yours that’s the outlier in this situation.” 

“Kaiba, being this cold is  _ abnormal  _ in any case- you’re wearing two layers. Even Kisa wasn’t this cold in comparison to me.” 

_ It’s almost as if- _

“Oh.” 

“‘Oh’? That’s all you have to say for your ridiculous-”

“Seto Kaiba,” You said- voice in a low rumble that indicated that something was  _ very  _ wrong. Shutting him up almost immediately. “We’re going to the hospital.” 

“I fail to see how that’s relevant in this situation,” Kaiba muttered. 

You raised his hand and pushed at his nail, watching the blood flow sluggishly back to place, “It’s relevant because you might have caught something worse than a cold.” 

Kaiba may have been the terror of Kaiba Corp- but everyone got the hell out of your way once they watched you drag Kaiba across the halls like a ragdoll- an ominous expression on your face as you calmly told the desk to bring Kaiba’s car around. A quiet yet significant undertone that indicated hellish pain should one refuse to cooperate. 

_ It certainly explains why he hasn’t been able to catch me lately- damn it. I should have caught it far sooner.  _

_ No fever, colder than usual. Possible cold- hopefully not anything too serious. _

Needless to say, everyone complied when you stared down a security guard while speaking in excruciating detail about just how you would eviscerate him before getting rid of the body to a pen of pigs if he didn’t follow what you said. 

Kaiba actually snorted with amusement- which was far scarier than a kid who somehow knew in great detail how to hide a murder. 

And if Kaiba didn’t say anything as you shed your simple jacket to stick it around him- that was his business. The blank look in your expression with rage in your eyes was enough to hold off the comments until later. 

By the time you got to the hospital, Kaiba was still perfectly dry while you were drenched in the rain. A silent sentry as you stoically sat next to Kaiba while he received his results from the doctor.

“And that’s it,” The Doctor finished. “It was a good thing you got here when you did Mr. Kaiba. Any later and it could have been a lot worse.” 

_ Not a cold at least.  _

_ But it could have been.  _

_ It could have been a hell of a lot worse.  _

_ How come I didn’t notice?  _

_ No I did notice. It just didn’t register until recently. I should probably bully him into eating more but it’s not gonna help when I’m pretty much a hypocrite in that department I mean come on I stayed up with him out of sheer stubbornness I am the last person who has any right to do this it really should be someone else but Mokuba is too young for this bull and Seto isn’t going to trust his employees except for maybe Roland maybe if I rope Yugi into this there stands a chance but at the same time is that really enough- _

“-ey”

_ Because he’s as stubborn as a mule and as soon as Katsuya gets wind of this he’s going to refuse any and all forms of help which causes me more problems than it solves but it’s not like I can absolve years of goading rivalry between the two of them and it’s also not like I can change much of anyone’s opinion when he really is an ass but he’s a funny ass and I really don’t get why people don’t see that except I kinda get why because he’s defensive as hell but he’s also a member and a total nerd in disguise I mean seriously I owned a couple figures back then but I never went the whole nine yards and commissioned a car based on my favorite card but there’s also the fact that he has a blue eyes jet and he totally went the extra mile to use a freaking jetpack just to make an impression on Yugi which was admittedly pretty funny and I regret not signing up to the for the tournament but there was so much going on then and Kisa had just gotten sick and I had to pull out all the stops at some underground duelings so I could pay for the treatments but it wasn’t like anything back Pegasus even foot the bill for most of them but still if I had just a little more help it would be way easier and I just don’t how this could even happen if anything I should be in the same boat but I’m just not as lean as Kaiba is and I actually have a lot of lipids stored and the fact that Kaiba doesn’t look that different kinda indicates that he’s got a bad habit of not maintaining an adequate eating schedule speaks volumes about the usual routine and it just doesn’t make sense to me and it really is weird that I care so damn much but- _

_ Oh.  _

**_Oh._ **

“Seto?” You said quietly. 

Kaiba, who had waited out until you came back to yourself, shifted his view from the tablet in the hopes of continuing some of his work. Looking over to see your expression lifting out of its blank state into an astonished and mildly overwhelmed expression. Mouth agape in a loss. He raised a skeptic eyebrow. 

You weren’t that far off, so Kaiba could  _ feel  _ your temperature suddenly flare up a few degrees higher into a much stronger warmth. As you avoided his gaze. 

“I think I might like-like you.” 

Kaiba nearly dropped the tablet.

* * *

 

_A/n: BEHOLD THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER. SORRY FOR THE DELAY, SINCE SENIOR YEAR IS COMING CLOSER TO THE END THINGS HAVE BEEN HECTIC IN EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY. That being said this chapter was a long time coming- for the flood gates have opened Mwahahaha!_

_As penance for the long wait I wrote an extra long chapter and hopefully will get the next one out on time but who knows what hurdles life will bring. In any case- the next chapter will bring about some pretty hilarious moments I like to think, since Anguis is coming back into the main story._

_That being said- would you guys be interested in a mini snippet about how Anguis and Yusei are doing? They're a long thing of mine and I really have been avoiding going into any detail since they aren't the focus of the story but I think it might be fun to have a mini-chapter about what they're going to. Maybe even a separate story but within the same universe. We'll see_

_Anyway._

_Dedications to:_

_**BadIndieGamer:** I'm glad it made you laugh a little! I honestly thought the moth joke might be a little over-reaching but I went with it cause I thought it was funny lol- thanks for reading and I hope you were satisfied with this one even if there weren't as many memes _

**_6f0909:_ ** _I hope this comes as a surprise considering how quick it is but I think the development is right- hopefully. There's still a lot that needs to happen before we get to a solid relationship but I think this brief moment of pure terror from the reader was enough to get the gears turning. Thanks for reading!_

**_HibiscusMist:_ ** _I'm glad you do, and honestly the awkwardness takes heavy inspiration from real life. There are some words that I just refuse to say for any and every reason purely because it's so weird saying them and not because I dislike the word nor the definition. I am doing much better all things considered- if a little stressed out from arranging things for the future but things are actually going pretty okay. Hope you liked this chapter too and thanks for reading!_

**_Dianasaurus94:_ ** _I hope you see the end part as another part of how the reader thinks- because it tends to be how I am when it comes to things I'm thinking about for a long time. Split between either a state where I cannot for the life of me concentrate on one thing and on the other hand one idea becomes a long continuous strain of thought to the point where I neglect every other one. Also yes, Kaiba did enjoy it a little. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading!_

**_KayomieLatoro:_ ** _Yeah, if you think regular hornets are bad- Japanese hornets are so- so much worse. Thanks for reading!_

**_You the Reader:_ ** _Thanks for reading and hope you have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE 3/9/19: THE SNIPPET STORY FOR ANGUIS SHINKU HAS BEEN POSTED AND INCLUDED IN A SERIES. HOPE YA'LL ENJOY


	10. Turbulent

Chapter 10, Turbulent 

* * *

 He looked at you seriously, a blank stare set in his face as a result of trying to process your words, “Have the gossip press finally made you crack?”

He internally winced as your expression shut off, dulling into a blank as panic and hurt set in visibly before clamping shut with brutal efficiency. The embarrassment was genuine, but as you agreed with him it was easy to see the pain layered under other emotions in the effort to hide it. The problem was that he could only tell because you had done it before.

“Anyway,” you barreled on, as if the terror induced confession had never happened. “Mokuba is coming in a few minutes and once he’s here I’m gonna head home and check that no one broke in.”

“Fine.”

He watched as you stiffly sat in quiet, your mouth twitching every once in a while as if out of habit before you consciously shut it. Looking off in the distance far away from where you were now. The sight was severely uncomfortable, never mind the fact that he had been _conditioned_ to take this sort of silence as something very very _wrong._

After a moment, Kaiba swallowed, deliberately flatting his expression, “How certain are you?”

You blinked tilting your head, “Would you like a percentage or an explanation?”

“A rough estimation is sufficient.”

You nodded, frowning in thought and thinking about it seriously, “I think…I may have had a crush on you the first time you debut.”

You tilted your head, expression still scrunched in thought, consciously attempting to keep your train of thought from going elsewhere. It wasn’t impossible but it tended to be difficult when it came to things like this.

“I had written it off at first, like I claimed before,” You shrug at this. “You’re an attractive guy, I don’t think anyone would deny it unless their standards of physical appearance are different from the social norms. I’m as human as they are, so I figured it was just that.”

“I didn’t think it was serious, even after we became more than passing acquaintances,” You continued. “I figured I just genuinely found you interesting after that. Your constant presence, no matter how much I attempted to drive you away with every meme and every semi-groan-worthy line of dialogue I can come up with- they all fell flat. So I decided to stop and see how far you were willing to go for a duel.”

You  _decided_ to stop? That was news to him. 

“I figured out that that’s what you wanted after you helped me with Anguis,” You continued. “It made sense, and Anguis agreed with my conclusion that you weren’t the type of person to be subtle when you wanted- of course he also said the reason why you changed tactics had something to do with how I throw my weight around or something like that- I don’t really know what he was talking about when he said it.”

“So I thought- well what was something different? Why the pursuit and distinct lack of unapologetic demands? I mean you did demand things of me, but we both know they were for cosmetic reasons and nothing else.” At this, you tilted your head. “Then Anguis said- ‘maybe he’s just looking for someone other than Yugi to duel with and he knew that if he pushed you to it, you would lose deliberately. You don’t have the same pride as Yugi does, I’ve seen you lose to me on purpose ‘cause you think it’d make me feel better’. And I thought, ‘maybe he’s got something here’. So I asked you- then you freaked out on me.”

You paused for a moment, leaning back against the chair, “That hurt a lot. I could pretty much guess that you were probably mad ‘cause you think I was leading you on with the whole act but come on- I’m not _that_ perceptive. Especially when you basically ditched for a couple days, cause that just leaves me a pickle jar with no hands.”

“That makes no sense. At all.”

“Uh- um…oh. Mirror force without a trap jammer?”

“…go on.”

“Anyway, I was pretty pissed about it. Which was kinda the first warning- I don’t usually get pissed at people who need some distance from me, because Anguis needs that too every now and then. But- you ditching me made me angry. I didn’t really realize how angry till you showed up again swinging,” You shrugged. “I know you’re pissy- it’s just kinda part of your personality and I didn’t really find it that grating until then. But the fact that you ditched and came back expecting me to act the same as before, somehow made me mad. Like I said, it’s weird cause I know for a fact you _always_ acted that way and then I realized you…don’t? With me you’re somehow more snippy than pissy- you don’t do the whole: ‘whatever geek’ ‘In your dreams, dweeb’ ‘Not so fast’ ‘You’re a third rate duelist with a fourth-rate deck’ thing with me. You _put up_ with my crap, not even Anguis does that sometimes when I spazz out from one topic to the next. You even keep up.”

Kaiba wasn’t going to mention the fact that you had done poses and expressions to match your apparent impression of him. But it was grating, is that _really_ how ridiculous he was? He was looking _forward_ to getting past high school, at the very least he can leave those embarrassments behind.

“And then yeah,” You finished lamely. “I lied actually, about being there because it was Kisa’s death anniversary. I mean- it _was,_ but I go to her grave for that you know? I just needed a place to think and be mad and frustrated then you had to fucking _show up._ And I was just so _mad_ so I spat out the harshest thing that I could throw out, in the back of my mind I guess I tried to use the information that you liked Kisa against you? I could own up to that, I can be pretty nasty when I want to be. Then I realized later on I had feelings, figured it was probably platonic. Avoided thinking about it for the rest of the time- and then when I figured out you were sick from malnourishment- things came crashing down, I started panicking. Cause it's hard you know? I just spent the past few minutes rethinking every interaction we've had and every opportunity I had to realize you weren't eating as you should. Then I just imagined all these scenarios where I'm scolding you for being stupid but then I realize that I don't really have the _right_ to do that because we're just friends and I don't have much of a right to force you to do anything you don't want to cause that should be more Mokuba's thing yeah? And then  _that_ idea hurt a lot that I would just be your _friend_ and that's how I knew I was pretty fucking fucked.”

You blinked abruptly, shivering, “Why’s it cold here?”

Inhaling slowly, Kaiba nudged himself a little to the side of the bed, “Because you used your coat to shield me from the rain idiot, don’t blame me if you get sick later.”

You gave him a quirk of lips, breathing out sharply in a weak attempt of reacting with amusement. You continued standing awkwardly, in spite of the very pointed and _visible_ offer.

He rolled his eyes, “Get over here dumbass.”

You slid into his space, Kaiba feeling the heat sucked out from his own body from your cold one. Silence remaining and your body language still stiff, undoubtedly from not know how to react.

“You were wrong,” He muttered lowly. “I was after Azure from the start.”

You shifted your head, silently asking.

“I didn’t have a crush on Kisa,” He snorted. “As if I would ever, she’s not exactly to my tastes and a little too much like _Wheeler_ despite her superior dueling technique.”

“You just say that cause she used Blue Eyes,” You whispered.

“But it was Azure who beat me before, and it was Azure who I was determined to crush underfoot with my far better deck,” Kaiba sighed. “Then you had the gall to challenge me to a duel.”

You winced, “That wasn’t a good day for me, some of the pictures got water damaged from the rainstorm.”

“And you _beat_ me.” Kaiba sneered, more out of habit than anything else but you didn’t comment regardless. “You actually _beat_ me, and to add insult to injury- you did so with a Blue Eyes White Dragon.”

“I feel like you had a double Spiderman moment.”

“That was when I suspected you were Azure,” He huffed. “The only duelist I have ever challenged who played a viable dragon deck. Even _I_ have varying differentiations in my cards but all of yours so far were dragons.”

“I like dragons,” You replied weakly. “Dragons are cool.”

“You had _three_ copies of Alexandrite Dragon. I have _one_.”

“Like you can’t get more than one copy,” You scoffed. “And how did you even know I had that much? Have you been snooping through my deck? Snooper.”

You got flicked for that- and crap did it _hurt_ what the hell. “In order to get _three_ Alexandrite Dragons you would have had to _invested_ over 1000 plus gems considering there was only ever one copy per box. Which means you either wasted the monetary equivalent _or_ you spent entirely too long farming gems just to get three cards.”

“You would’ve done it too!”

“Not in a span of the three days since the box was released.” He rose an eyebrow. “And may I remind you this was during my tenure under Gozoboro.”

“No I remember,” if anyone would point out you were pouting, you would deny it until you turned _blue_.

“And people call me dragon obsessed,” came the deadpan half mutter, to which you flopped your hand in the direction of its source. Wrist popping with the flip-flop motion as you quickly snapped it back and forth. “Oh shut up.”

“Dweeb.”

“Loser.”

“Stupid.”

“Fool.”

“Imbecile.”

“ _Nerd_.”

“Pot meet kettle.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m _electric_.”

 

There was a silence soon after, a not-quite comfortable silence that spoke volumes about how the only two people in the room had the social skills of a rock. Both unsure of what to say and fully attempting to work out in their own respective ways how to best address the issue at hand.

To which you decided to yourself, _fuck it._

“So the person you had a crush on…was me?” Your head tilted as you said it, even as he was right next to you. Motion ingrained into your muscle memory, a habit developed over years of not being able to portray your tone correctly. He was stalling.

“You realize what you are to me.”

A soft voice whispered, barely sitting in the range of human hearing, regardless he heard it nevertheless, “No I don’t.”

“You were a figment of my imagination that I placed as the sole reason for my hardships under Gozoboro for so long,” He muttered. “He used to claim that he would seek you out for the sake of adopting you instead, no matter what he needed to do it.”

 _Kisa and I would murder his ass first._ You thought quietly. _I’d bring him back just to shove that asshole out the window myself._

“The fact that you are contemplating murder speaks so much about your character.”

_And apparently I have a murder face, and people say Kaiba doesn’t give a shit. Actually- he doesn’t but he does pay attention when the matter concerns himself. Does that mean he knows what I did three weeks ago with that one shit stain? Do I have to call someone to bury the body? Shit- what if they’re busy I don’t think I can lift that much by myself. It’s not I can get away with Kaiba just zooming in on me asking ‘What do you have in your hand?’ and I could just yell ‘A KNIFE!” Ugh, I wish I can leet speak in real life than the contemplations of homicide that I poses would be far less likely to get me charged with anything jfc. J.F.C? Did I just text speak in my head what the fuck?_

“Then of course you had to go and be frustrating to deal with, do you realize how delicate you are?”

“Like a dainty piece of glass,” You agreed readily- but what were you agreeing to exactly? Oh- wait, he was talking about _you._ “Waitaminute, I am _not_ **dainty.** I can handle shit thanks-very-much.”

“Not when I’m trying to get you to _not_ avoid me for three days.”

“That was a one-time thing!” You threw your hands out. “I hadn’t even _met_ you officially, how was I supposed to know that you weren’t gonna make me disappear to get rid of me and my blue eyes?!”

“You realize I’m not a _Yakuza.”_

“I-I knew that.”

“Did you? I couldn’t make an accurate assumption since your presumptuous ass is so erratic that I have to contemplate whether you hate me or like me.”

“I like you- most of the time. When you’re funny.”

“You yelled at me for taking a sip of that disgustingly sweet drink you were so insistent on.”

“You did that to _spite_ me!”

“You also _asked_ me to _try it_.”

“Well it wasn’t funny.”

“Then do tell, just what exactly is your definition of _funny_?”

“When you’re yelling at people who mess up,” Then you considered it for a moment. “Most of the time, when you have reason to yell at them. When you don’t it just kinda makes me feel bad for your employees. When you yelled at that one off branch Korean guy? That was funny, both in actuality and in the way it made me feel.”

“….you seriously have no idea what _attraction_ feels like do you.”

“Is that what it was?” Certainly explained why it felt like your heart was gonna beat right out of your chest, you thought it was just a healthy fear. 

Kaiba sighed, suffering, and curiously the heart monitor beeped a couple times more than it had before. Relative silence taking over the oddly spacious hospital room- well not oddly. This _was_ still Kaiba after all, you were pretty sure the two of you would’ve stayed in a freaking hotel if that was possible- but considering what was gotten together on short notice it wasn’t half bad.

“You okay?”

“’Okay has a variety of implications’” he quoted, more out of habit than anything- speaking to you has seriously affected his ability to form non-referential conversations. Especially due to the fact if he tried to be more direct it go through one ear and come out completely different.

You huffed, “Your heart rate increased, either I need to throw myself out to grab a nurse or something more psychological just occurred.”

“Shut up.”

“Nope, where’s the remote-“

“Shut _up.”_

“Remote!”

He threw his arm in retaliation, pinning you against the bed with his heavy ass hand trained by years of waving around five pound equipment. Also known as the stupid _duel disk._ The remote nudged outside your distance.

“Asshole.”

“Shut up.”

“Are you just stuck on those two words now? What’s going on, your vocabulary is usually _soooo_ expansive.” You rolled your eyes, too tired and too weak to seriously force yourself out of the hold. “You’ve really stepped down your game Kaiba, what would Yugi say? Yugi would be so disappointed-“

He rolled his eyes, “The redness creeping up your neck would say otherwise.”

“Silence.”

“Oh? Now who’s the one who stepped down?” Kaiba tilted his head as much as the position would allow. “Shinku would be so disappointed, your vocabulary is usually baffling large in comparison to the brain cells that you possess.”

“Har har.”

* * *

 

Getting home was an interesting- and horrifying thing.

Kaiba had accompanied you this time when you had gone back to your apartment to grab some clothes before returning to the manor. Kaiba himself carefully avoiding any mention of just moving in- now wasn’t the time, especially with the such a fresh development in your relationship.

You had been controlled in that area, now hyperaware of when you touched him and certainly more prone to embarrassment. He hadn’t had this many opportunities to inflict the same treatment you have been giving him, so he relished in every opportunity.

Yet there were still some concepts that would remain the same, one of which- was your nature when pissed.

Kaiba had seen a variety of expressions you held, each were cataloged accordingly because of how abnormal they were. When you were amused you tilted your head, when you were angry your eye twitched. When you were confused, your blank stare was obvious and just that side of unnerving. When you were feeling mischievous, you used every opportunity to replicate an innocent facade.

This one was not an expression he’d ever seen before.

He knew for a fact that you had the potential for this- but this in particular was not what he expected.

You stared at the scattered remains of the cards you had so painstakingly protected for years. Not your deck- nor your particular collection of cards- but one that held equal if not more-so importance. Not even taking a single card out to support your own deck, even if doing so would be far more beneficial than hunting for that same card.

All of them dumped out, in the rain. Destroyed.

Kaiba held his umbrella in an iron grip, indignancy and rage in waves.

“Hm.”

Kaiba’s eyes snapped towards you as you walked forward, balancing above the ground to carefully pick up the cards as much as you could. Working around rips and peeling as gingerly as you would have a live animal.

“Seto.”

He tilted his head to indicate that you had his attention.

“I’m going to need a few days.”

He nodded and turned back.

* * *

 

Kaiba ignored Shinku’s worried looks throughout the day, and the day after- and the day after that.

However, when three girls from other classes stopped showing up to class three days after that, Kaiba decided it was time to make sure nobody died. Or bury some bodies, if that much was necessary.

Instead, he found you loitering outside the school. Not even bothering to cover up in the continuing rain with anything more than a waterproof jacket three sizes too large. Your entire face almost completely covered by the hood. Hands pocket deep as you paced back and forth at the school’s entrance.

Shinku ran first, ignoring the rain as he stopped right in front of you and began talking. His expression obscured by his back before he bobbed his head and left with an awaiting Fudo and company. Face unusually grim, if the other’s reactions were anything to go by.

“Kaiba?”

He turned his head down to the source, Yugi looking concerned as his eyes squared against your own stare. Having stopped pacing but now deathly still.

“What happened?”

Kaiba grunted, “None of your business Muto.”

Yugi, having been used to Kaiba’s candid attitude, simply hummed his acknowledgment, “It had something to do with those three fangirls of yours that stopped coming to school right?”

“And what of it?”

Yugi shrugged, “Téa talked about it a little, apparently they moved schools. See you around Kaiba.”

That sounded far too tame, considering you.

Kaiba walked forward to meet you, your hood slipping down a little as you looked up. Expressionless but all the same, there was a certain satisfaction in just under your iris. Though he noted you were standing far too stiff for his liking.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes at you, “You didn’t kill anyone did you?”

You quirked your lips, “Among the crimes I would have hypothetically committed, murder will not be one of them.”

“Would the others happen to be stalking, harassment, and the threat of murder?”

You shrugged, “Perhaps. Perhaps not, but don’t worry about it.”

You smiled, grin full of teeth, “I like to think I clean up after myself rather well.”

* * *

 

Kaiba found out later what happened, after some private investigation of his own. He was a little impressed.

Over the course of six days, several pieces of evidence of the three girl’s academic misconduct began to pop up in official channels. Sexual relations with various teachers came to light, evidence of cyber-harassment in various versions printed out in several copies. Their parents, being well-off in comparison didn’t even have the chance to save face as several records of their tax misconduct and what was essentially _blackmail_ without the subsequent demand _._ Almost all of the parents ended up individually filing for divorce within the small window of time.

There was no evidence of who had dropped the files, no was there any clear indication that a student had to do with it. Files were found on desks or emailed by an anonymous informant. This much didn’t faze him, it was the level of information you managed to dig up in such a short amount of time that was slightly impressive. Which really meant only one thing.

“Just how exactly did you come to have a relationship with Orihara?” He asked over his desk, yourself lounging casually on an opposite chair. Laptop open with a random video on YouTube about cooking.

You shrugged in answer, “He owed me something from a while back. My sister never knew about it- probably would have clocked me over the head for associating myself with him. But he’s pretty forthcoming in a pinch, at least for me anyway. Chilled out a bunch after he and Heiwajima got over their sexual tension.”

_Ow._

You turned from looking at him back to your computer, “It just so happens that _I_ was the reason those two managed to leap over that little hurdle. It was an accident really.”

Kaiba gave you a skeptical look, to which you chuckled.

_Ow._

“He got kidnapped by some gang and taken to some decerped corner for some torture I guess, I walked in on accident and yelped for help.” Kaiba waited for the catch. “Granted I pulled out a switchblade while I yelped for help but hey, technicalities. Orihara was in a pretty bad state, so after I dealt with some of the kidnappers- don’t give me that look I just ran them off. You’d be surprised how people get scared when you start using teeth or start aggressively poking people with a sharp object. I tried to get Orihara to a hospital or something- then I ran into Heiwajima who I held off cause- well 1) I didn’t fucking know I was carrying Izaya Orihara on my shoulders, and 2) Even if I _did_ know I was carrying Izaya Orihara of Informant fame, dude was in a bad shape and I couldn’t let Heiwajima attack him while the guy couldn’t even duck.”

You paused for a breath, licking your lips in thought, “I think he was more surprised that I yelled at him, he’s pretty known for his strength right? All that monster stuff, he was even wielding a signpost I think- but I never claimed to have the healthiest of self-preservation skills. So he just kinda lead the way to Shinra- that’s Orihara’s and Heiwajima’s friend from High School who’s a doctor- and I just left him. A couple days later I got a text with a thank you from both of them.”

“That fails to explain why Heiwajima owes you.”

“Oh- I told Heiwajima that he needed to punch himself hard and realize that the reason why he gets so pissed at Orihara is because Orihara is the one kinda regular person who was never afraid of him. And that him and Orihara are kinda the same stock.” Your smile sobered a little. “Violence for violence is the rule of beasts. He was actually trying to see how far he could push Orihara before the guy snapped and got afraid of him like everyone else.”

There was a silence after, contemplative and calm while you were waiting for Kaiba to roll around that information in his mind. Comparing it to what he knew, what he knew of _you_ (which was kinda cute cause the poor man would still probably find himself at a dead-end there) and trying to figure out just how much had changed over the course of six days.  
There was also something significant about the last line, and Kaiba knew what it was. Not like it would change anything.

“The Fan club has been less annoying,” He said after a while, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose that has anything to do with you?”

Your smile turned into a grin, pushing away the laptop onto the desk while you stood to loom over it. “Why Seto, you almost sound like you miss your little fan club.”

_Ow fuck, that hurts._

“Don’t be ridiculous,” He responded, giving you a dead stare. “Bailing you out of jail would be a far less headache inducing process if I knew what I was dealing with.”

You snorted, leaning back to laugh a little more before tilting your head at him with a smaller- far less inane smile, “I thought I needed to change the little club seeing as the little status change we have going on here.”

“You told them to stay away from me?” He begrudgingly admitted to himself that he was a little disappointed, it was far too asinine even for you- but it was also something a normal person would have done.  

“Pf, no no. That’s too tame,” You said with a wave of your hand.

_Ow._

“I installed myself as _President_.”

 

“Seto?”

“Shut up- just, shut up before the brain cells I have start to drop in your presence.”

You started laughing, “Did you just make a reference to Sherlock? I _am_ infecting you!”

“It’s the only way for you to understand what the hell I’m saying without you twisting it into something else.” He growled. “And don’t think it passed without my notice that your eyebags got darker- just how many hours of sleep have you gotten?”

“Hypocrite,” You shot back with a pout, before sighing. “If you must know- I believe it’s a couple hours here and there. I had to take all the pictures myself you know.”

“If you actually wanted me to believe that I suggest you wrap your wounds better.”

You softened at that, posture slouching until the insistent pain that had been bothering you since you got back lessened slightly.

He sighed, “Come here, I at least need to make sure you wrapped it correctly.”

* * *

 

_Four Days Earlier:_

“Fuck,” You hissed as you pressed the ice-pack against your side. Probably bruised from the run in with one of the guards, pricks that they were. At least you didn’t get bit too bad by their dogs.

“You know, this is going above and beyond even for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You grouched as you looked up at Izaya, clad in his black clothes and handing you a pain-killer with a glass of water. You would have swallowed it dry, but you knew Izaya enough to realize that he probably wouldn’t care too much for what you were doing. He’d stay out of your way.

“I still can’t believe that you got shot at but none of the dogs tore into you,” Izaya mused, lounging on the opposite chair. “I guess mutt recognizes mutt.”

You snorted, withholding a wince, “Kisa was the only parent I had, can’t speak for those two deadbeats.”

“Still, doing all this just for one man.” Izaya tilted his head, his normal smirk softening. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do this much for someone. You’ve already dealt with the three girls who ruined your sister’s deck. Do you really need to target these lowly humans who aim to kidnap Mokuba?”

“That would make you a hypocrite.”

Izaya splayed his hands out in mock surrender, “Avoid the issue sure, but even I have to express my surprise when you went this far.”

_“PLEASE I’LL GIVE YOU AS MUCH AS YOU WANT?”_

_“Don’t fucking insult me, do I look like the type to want money?”_

_“THEN I’LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.”_

_“Do me a favor then,” You growled. “Fucking **perish**.” _

“You act like I actually killed people.”

“You erased their identities to such degree that they’ll probably never be able to come back to the light of human society as themselves,” Izaya lolled his head to the side. “That’s impressive, even for a human like yourself.”

_“YOU’LL FACE JUDGEMENT FROM GOD FOR THIS.”_

_You laughed sardonically, “Then I’ll just have to face God and walk backwards.”_

“It’s not like they were _nice_ people. Warmongers, traffickers, you did say that the Yakuza was content to let me have my way.”

“Sure, but I think the Yakuza would have thought differently if I had told them that a teenager was the one doing this,” Izaya sighed, resting his head on his chin. “Especially when you’re essentially erasing almost every known associate of Gozoboro Kaiba.”

_“I’m going to bury you for this,” The older woman hissed. “I’ll kill you, and Kaiba and that little shit-“_

_“Then you better bury me **deep** ,” You responded in monotone. Kneeling down to look her in the eye as she was trapped on her knees to the chair. Government agents swirling around the area while they let you have your few minutes before officially surrendering her over. “Cause the minute you touch a single fucking **hair** I’m coming back to drag you with me.” _

“Kaiba’s a king in a chess game,” You said with a shrug. Moving the ice-pack to a different area with a wince. “If I have to be the queen then I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”

“My dear human,” Izaya smirked. “You’re doing a little _more_ than a queen at this point. What was it you said to the last one? _‘One day, you will be face to face with whatever saw fit to let you exist in the universe, and you will have to justify the space you’ve filled._ ’”

“That was a meme.”

“I’m aware, doesn’t mean that message was any less ineffective. It is both admirable and disgusting that he wet himself.” He paused as his phone beeped, flipping the old thing with a snap before his smirk softened. “Shizu-chan says that your request is fulfilled, and I have those photos ready for you by the way.”

“Great,” You groused. Hand moving for the first-aid kit to the side to address the bite marks and some of the road-rash from landing hard on the asphalt. “Thank him for me yeah?”

He rolled his eyes, “Shizu-chan is aware of your sentiments. And you realize we do have Shinra right? You might get rabies at this point.”

“Na, it’s fine,” You straightened as you looked at the injuries- as much as you could anyway without straining yourself again too much. “I don’t wanna have to go all the way to Ikebukuro then back for that. I have two more days before I have to officially return to school again, my doctor’s note can only last for so long. The window of opportunity is closing and I fully intend to make the most of it.”

“Oh? I believe you’ve already dealt with a majority of some of Kaiba’s more violent enemies. What else do you have to do? Besides the photos of course.”

You looked up from your disinfecting to grin at him, “Taking down a small government that’s all.”

* * *

_A/n: An extra long chapter to make up for the extreme tardiness! My apologies for that by the way, things have gotten busy since the school year is winding down on my end and there are college stuff for me to take care of. And I think that I have a couple more crap to take care of before the end of it all._

_Anyway, this chapter was kinda wild but I admit that a lot of the wild parts were stress relieving. There's been some private issues I've been working out on my own and some of the stress has built up I think. Writing this helped a lot in just letting it go some, so that's good- it's why I started this story in the first place. It's just been funky you know? Cause conceptually I know they're rather ridiculous but it doesn't affect me any less so instead I've been kinda throwing it in a box to never allow myself to address until recently. Which opened up a whole NEW can of worms that I just kinda take one step at a time. What else can I do right? lol. Self-esteem and self-preservation has never been a strong point of mine, after some thinking, I realize that I express a lot of grief over small things to kinda make my major issues less noticeable. Some of the reasons why I had to stop writing a while is because I was experiencing acute pain in my wrist, so I capitalized on that pain until people kinda put other issues that I've been having on the backburner. Such as my issues dealing with my friend's emotions- they're all my dear friends that I love mostly platonically (that's another can of worms that I will not be addressing today) but dealing with that kinda gives me the impression that I have to present myself as the stable one, which kinda has the side-effect of me compartmentalizing every mental issue I've ever had from anxiety to low self-esteem and the wonderment if I'm being too clingy with my friends (which I guess IS part of anxiety). Especially when I've been so lucky that I question my right to feel this upset about certain things and it just leads into a stupid cycle._

_It's weird you know? Cause I know they're my friends cause they like me, but sometimes I feel like they're my friends cause I offer advice and services as much as I can as much as they need. Which I guess is because I do so since I like to give the people I like physical things that they might find useful- but it also has a drawback of making me expect physical things in return, which cycles back to me resenting that I feel that way because I give stuff cause I like the individual I'm giving stuff to and I wanna make them happy with the stuff I give them. Which is why I kinda get extra emotional if someone gives me stuff without prompting, cause it feels really nice that they know me so well that they believe I would like it, and that they would get it BECAUSE I would like it. (For those of you who might read this and have given me a gift, know that I appreciate it VERY MUCH even if I don't often have the time to catch up with what you've updated with sometimes)_

_//sigh// venting aside- Again, I had some fun with chapter cause I read some of those online and I went 'oh hell yes'. So yeah, epic lines from memes galore._

_**Dedications to:**  
_

_**Dianasaurus94:** Thanks for always commenting! The first part of this chapter admittedly took inspiration from you so I hope it's too your liking! I wanted this chapter to really have a scope of just why the Reader isn't' exactly...sane, for lack of a better word. It's just people see different sides of it depending on how much the reader believes is appropriate. A bestie convo between Anguis and reader is on the horizon so don't you worry and I'm glad you found the breakfast scene so hilarious, that one was one I had a lot of fun writing :) Also senior year has its ups and downs, but now that we're down to the wire everyone is starting to feel hella tired, here's hoping we can scrounge up enough motivation to end strong. Or half-way decent lol. Thanks for reading~_

**_KayomieLatoro:_ ** _And you would be right! I've actually gone a little malnutrition (not to this extreme of course) and I have to say that it leaves you fucking loopy. Insomnia also has a variety of effects on individuals, I can remember somethings but there are occasional parts of my day that are completely blank. Thanks for reading~_

 **_HibiscusMist:_ ** _Lol- this violent enough for you? Well, implicated violence anyway. Thanks for liking this so much and thanks for reading~_

 _ **You the reader:** Thanks for reading and I hope you have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_ 


	11. Calm

Chapter 11, Calm

* * *

 

 Walking through Domino was a very different experience from before you had gone and replaced the head of the organization and installed yourself like some dictator post World War I. For one, faces you recognized as members of the Kaiba fan club tilted their heads in respect of you. Others who had been previously apart of the fan club in its more rabid days simply took one look and turned the fuck around. It was refreshing, as the people who were neither simply didn’t give a shit.

There were, of course, exceptions.

“You _fucktard!”_ Anguis’ distinctive voice cracked as a blur of red and blue slammed into you. Your still tender areas throbbing from the impact but no less, you had been expecting this. Your legs extending to take the brunt of the impact so you didn’t fall flat on your back. Anguis had shifted away, holding you by your shoulders in an almost deathly grip. _“You’re fucking insane!”_

You rose an eyebrow, it was rare that the half Japanese would devolve into his mother tongue of Spanish. Extremely so, as you saw Kaiba shift his attention in mild surprise. Actually- Kaiba wasn't a good gauge, he barely just started tolerating the other's presence. Yusei's expression of gobsmacked shock was probably a more accurate indicator. 

_“Yes yes, I know,”_ You responded easily, nodding towards Kaiba before patting the red-head gently on the arm. The words flowing easily, if a little rougher due to its lack of use; you weren’t fluent but you could get your point across at the very least. Spanish and all those connected to the latin based words was  _weird_ in grammar. _“I’m sorry for the worry, but it needed to be done.”_

_“’Needed to be done’ my ass,”_ Anguis hissed vindictively. _“You haven’t done that sort of crazy shit since- since-“_

Your eyebrow climbed higher, _“And here I thought you swore you were never going to talk about it.”_

Anguis rolled his eyes, _“I know asshole, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. But you crazy fucker- this is much **much** worse than just dropping a favor for the Informant. This is you actually going out of your way to take people out. You’re a teenager, not a damn secret agent.” _

_“I never said I was aiming to be,”_ You responded. _“And I didn’t, I simply got people into place and made sure the adequate and interested were there upon their arrival. How I did it is inconsequential.”_

_“To you maybe,”_ Anguis grumbled. _“But you realize that this, this isn’t **normal**. You don’t just take down massive underground groups just by using your adolescent wiles and some information.”_

_“The black informant and his monster from Ikebukuro did well enough, and- might I add that I did have aid from more experienced individuals.”_

_“Which ones? I forget that your Facebook friend list is as crazy as **you** are.” _

_“Well, that’s for me to know and you to pretend doesn’t exist doesn’t it. Change of subject, how are you and your boyfriend?”_

The question had the desired effect as Anguis instantly turned as red as his hair. “ _It’s- uh-_ It’s good. I think.”

“You think, or you _know_?” You tilted your head at him.

There was a brief pause as Anguis' expression flattened out in an attempt to rationalize everything, eyes going back and forth as he thought about different things before, "Hold on- I'm not stupid I'm just panicking." 

"I know, take your time." 

“I- _erm-_  I don’t know? It- I mean, we’ve eaten out once or twice. And I stuck around with him in the garage like usual, almost nothing has changed beyond that- and.” Anguis hesitated. “I don’t really know if anything _else_ is supposed to happen.”

“Well me neither, I’m no expert on relationships.”

“Yet you seem to be in the know on fucking _everything else_.”

“It just be like that sometimes Anguis.”

“Whatever, it’s not fair.” Anguis sulked before slowing. “I- there _is_ something else isn’t there? I don’t really feel like anything has changed much.”

“Nothing? Really? I thought things were supposed to,” You made a useless motion with your hands. “Get intimate or whatever.”

“How am I supposed to know?” Anguis scowled. “Aren’t _you_ in a relationship?”

“I am? Oh wait, I am! Wow you're fast.”

“Hello?! I thought you and Kaiba were together since- since the whole standing in the rain shit?”

You tilted your head, surprise expressed rather clearly in comparison to several other hundred emotions that were often possible. “I- no, this only started like- a week ago?”

Anguis stopped in the middle of the hall. The bell ringing above the rest with the hallways empty, silence overtaking the school while everything else seemed to almost be still along with the redhead that started it.

“ _What?”_

“Yeah,” You frowned. “The…thing only started like a week ago?”

“And you fucking took down _organized crime syndicates_ in that single fucking _week?!”_

“Well when you put it that way-“

“No _not when I put it that way-_ oh my fucking- you are _literally batshit insane_.”

You didn’t tell the panicking red-head that the entire operation had actually been planned _way_ before the week started. It just happened to so conveniently coincide on the same timeline of when a couple of assholes decided to wreck your sister’s card collection. Which you took care of. Vindictively. With much glee and satisfaction. 

You met up with Kaiba after the third class. The English teacher paying you no mind while you drummed your fingers on the pad of paper, your head in different directions and ears slightly ringing still from how Anguis had scolded the fuck out of you earlier.

_I’m so fucking bored._

_That lady’s bow is crooked._

_Oh hey it’s Himiko, I wonder why she looks terrified. She didn’t seem that terrified when I cut up all the designer clothes she had in her closet, then again, she didn’t really catch me cutting up said designer clothes in the first place._

_BOooooorrrRReeEEEEEdddDDDDD._

_Kaiba save me._

That apparently did something as Kaiba caught your attention from the corner of your eyes, raising an eyebrow in obvious ‘ _What the fuck are you doing’_ fashion. Well, joke’s on him, you could've interpreted that look in at least twenty different ways.

But in the end you still interpreted it as the same question so it was kind of a moot point.

You shrugged, _I don’t fucking know._

He sighed, _Be less annoying._

You gave him a look, _Really now? How do you suppose that?_

He glared, _Literally anything else than what you are doing right now._

The flat look returned with a vengeance, _Right. Like it’s so damn simple to distract myself. It wasn’t easy before you, it’s not going to be easy even_ with _you here._

His eyes narrowed, pointedly, to make sure he had your full attention before accusingly staring at where your hand was.

Your shoulders slumped, letting your arm hang in his direction; hand half curled closed. You figured he was just gonna hand you something to do, it was what he did most of the time these days. Especially when you pestered him in his office, shoving dueling situations into your hands for you to solve. You half suspected he might've been gathering the data to put it as an A.I. duelist or something, there was literally no other reason as to why the situations had to be that specific. 

He grabbed it and squeezed.

_What the shit._

_What the actual shit._

_FuuuuuuUUCUUKKKK-_

Kaiba smirked at his desk. And if anyone in the room had a _sliver_ of self-preservation, they said nothing about it.

Especially when Kaiba was _smirking_ and you were _glowering._ The mental screaming practically felt by everyone in the room, and then some. 

* * *

Anguis shot up from his assignment, brow pulled down into a frown.

"Anguis? You okay?" Akiza tilted her head, concerned at the sudden motion. Several others of team 5ds perking their heads up in a similar fashion as the soft question was asked. 

"I feel a disturbance in the force," Anguis muttered under his breath. "The sounds of someone screaming their head off in their own head to the point where the sound is bounced around and amplified louder and louder." 

Anguis turned back down to the paper and continued working, "I'm fine, I'm just pretty sure Kaiba did something frustrating."

"Oh....okay."

* * *

 

An hour of internal screaming later, and you were still kind of screaming. Just more quietly and less bouncing around your own head. Meanwhile Kaiba seemed to be having a wild time, not smiling but definitely not scowling either. It seems freaking you the fuck out with a display of affection very much uncharacteristic of one Seto Kaiba.

Seriously, the sheer out of character-ness freaked you out more than when you had realized that those were your sister's cards degrading on the pavement.

Kaiba gave you a sideways glance that practically radiated amusement, “You’re still pissed.”  

“Are you, in fact- Seto Kaiba. CEO of Kaiba Corp. and not, in fact, some sort of clone, digital replacement, digital replacement consciousness, a spirit of an ancient Egyptian, or otherwise?”

“No- no, that’s ridiculous, and _no_.” Kaiba scowled. “Do I want to know how you came to know of the other incidents?”

“I have my ways. So no, you’re not getting the answer.” You muttered under your breath. “Prick.”

“You love me.”

“Unfortunately.”

The response came too quickly for you to notice, and by the time you did the both of you had stiffened rigidly. Slowly turning to look at each other before turning elsewhere. Resolutely refusing to acknowledge the growing warmth that was making your head go fuzzy, Kaiba in a similar predicament with a more controlled reaction. Because he was nothing if not overachieving.

Asshole. 

“I think that was a touch too quick.”

“Agreed.”

“Boba?”

“Fine.”

“They’re worse,” Anguis said quietly under his breath. Watching as the two of you took one step away from each other but headed in the same general direction. “They’re actually so much worse- this _hurts_ to look at.”

“Anguis? What are you talking about?” Akiza questioned next to him. Craning her neck to try and spot something that was already long gone.

“Just a bunch of idiots who don’t know how to function like normal humans.”

“Um- what?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, well.” She put on a more pleasant smile. “Yusei was asking if you could eat lunch with us this time?”

“Huh? Oh sure, I don’t eat though. I kinda usually get pseudo force fed by psycho over there- who just left. Seriously?”

“Oh I pity you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, I hope you like instant ramen.”

Anguis, for some reason, suspected that the rath of Jack Atlas was on the horizon. 

* * *

 

“What exactly are we doing?”

“Anguis asked Yusei out on a date, I need to see this. I’ve been putting my best friend duties on hold and it is now the time to stop,” You tapped on a watch out of habit. Leaning forward on the table and keeping an eye on the ten minute early red-head across the planters.

“Are you going to order anything?”

“Oh don’t worry about it,” You waved at him. “I got you fillet mignon since you big dolt forgot to eat breakfast this morning.”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, “You assumed I would eat it.”

“Well yeah,” You broke off from your staring to look at him. “It’s your favorite right?”

Kaiba avoided looking you in the eye, instead glaring down at the menu in a vain attempt to read other options that he could possibly add. Maybe a wine but considering the fact that he was unfamiliar with the restaurant…he wasn’t going to take chances of some sort of story coming out about underage drinking or some ridiculousness.

“Oh- do you drink wine? I figured you did cause I asked if they could pair something with it, make it legit you know? One of Kisa’s friends had a nice Cabernet sitting around doing nothing so they donated it.” You tilted your head at him. “Not that I condone underage drinking but I figured with your position you’ve probably crossed it multiple times already considering the fact that you’re a CEO and everything.”

“What brand?” Kaiba tilted his head, interested. If he learned anything in the past few days, it was that your so-called ‘friends’, even friends of Kisa were often batshit  _absurd._

Your expression twisted in a clear effort to try and remember whatever it was you were trying to remember, “It was weirdly American. Screaming Eagle? I think? 2015.”

“You realize that those bottles go over 3,000 dollars.” Kaiba considered for a moment. “The 2015 wines don’t exist to the _public_ anymore.”

“Really?” You frowned. “Well I guess, if a good mango could go over thousands of yen, I don’t see why a good bottle of wine wouldn’t do the same. Napa Valley is a wonderful place I hear.”

“And this ‘friend’ of yours just… _donated_ it to you.”

“I think she’s more of a whiskey person,” you replied with a shrug. “And as far I know she actually tries very hard to get rid of all the wine that ends up in her house. I think they’re gifts?”

“What sort of person gets paid in 3000 dollar wine?”

“The kind of person who makes sure that those 3000 dollar wine remains intact?” You responded tilting your head. “As far as I know, she’s an investigator or something. Kisa didn’t really make it a habit of mentioning her too much but I _did_ have an impression that she was an ex or something at what point. There was a lot of tense things going on at the time, I don’t remember much.”

You snorted, “Which thinking back on it- was really weird. Or normal. I can’t tell now. Wait, did you want the wine? If not I’m pretty sure she’ll take it back if I ask.”

“…”

You tilted your head at him, eyes scanning his blank expression, “What?”

“Do you _know_ the owner of this restaurant?”

“Nope,” You replied easily enough. “I do know her girlfriend though.”

“That would explain how a brat like you is going to pay for this.”

You grinned, “I am nothing if not resourceful.”

“Believe me, I _know_.”

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Yusei was heaving while he tried his best not to crash immediately in his seat. Anguis halfway up his own velvet red chair in an attempt to help as Yusei rested his weight against the table. Chest heaving.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” the black haired teen huffed, lungs pulling in as much air as was physically possible without gasping. The other patrons giving them side glances but immediately turning back around once they saw… _something,_ Yusei couldn’t tell at the moment.

“No no- it’s okay,” Anguis slipped him a small smile. “Did you run across Domino City or something Yusei?”

“Might’ve,” He answered with a lighter wheeze. “Duel Runner broke down. Near the old High Way.”

“Y-Yusei that’s almost three miles from here.” Anguis reached for the water, pushing it towards his date insistently. “ _Geeze-_ I could’ve waited half an hour- or I dunno, you could’ve _texted.”_

“Sorry,” Yusei smiled sheepishly, taking the water and drinking with a forced slowness. “I just- I didn’t wanna disappoint you.”

“Oh my fuck that was both adorable and _diabetes-inducing._ ” You mumbled under his breath, hand moving to bite on whatever was served by the waiter.

“You realize you aren’t actually Shinku’s mother, or father for that matter.”

“Technically no, of course not- but Anguis’ mom does so much work that he never really sees her so the responsibility of keeping an eye on him and embarrassing the hell out of him falls to me,” You grinned a little vindictively. “It kinda doesn’t help that I don’t like Fudo and the motorcycle gang all that much. I like them a little more now- but before I’d’ve sooner sabotaged one of their duel wheels before letting one date Anguis.”

Kaiba paused, clearly interested, “Well clearly they’ve done something to earn your ire.”

“Classic case of forgetting about certain people,” Your smile flattened a little, keeping an eye as Anguis chuckled at something Yusei said. “I understand the circumstance of the time- but I made a promise that I wouldn’t allow it happening twice.”

You reached out for the glass of water, pausing right before you took a sip, “And I _keep_ my promises.”

* * *

 

An hour later, a thought came to mind as soon as you had returned to your own little date, having confirmed that yes: Anguis was having fun and yes: Yusei Fudo was treating him quite well and to your approval.

“Y’all’ve, I’d’ve and Y’ain’t,” You muttered, tilting your head at the dessert. “The holy trinity.”

Kaiba paused, his fork hovering right above whatever fancy dessert he had ordered of the many, a scowl very much visible on his face. “… _What?”_

“Nothing,” You responded with a shrug. “Just a thought.”

Which was probably some of the top ten most random things you’ve ever come up with but you were in the middle of dinner, in a generally happy mood with three songs playing simultaneously in your head while your mind was wandering. It was kind of a side effect of not really doing much other than trying to throw fuel at your brain and body.

You tilted your head, another thought head slamming itself to your attention as you put the fork down, appetite no longer present even as the desert was only partially finished and on its way to being a melted puddle of ice-cream. “Kaiba?”

His eyes moved front, his attention successfully taken.

“You guys…had an issue with the thing. Right?” You asked hesitantly, technically you weren’t supposed to know about this but between the meetings Kaiba had and when you were there, you ended up making your rounds around the office more often than not. “Not about duel links- about the, the...other thing?”

Kaiba froze.

“The elevator thing,” You added quietly. “To space. You wanna duel Yugi’s pharaoh again.”

“And if I do?”

You almost smiled at the not-quite snarl, defensive in nature but oh so predictable. Really, you think you're actually making impressive headway with the Seto Kaiba Expression dictionary, you haven’t seen anything new in the past few months. “Do you- ah, need any help?”

“No.” Kaiba blinked, suddenly derailed and turned down slightly to his dessert. “I- no. I don’t need any help.”

“I know it’s not fair,” You added after a moment. Rolling the handle of the fork between your fingers, practically watching the tension rise in the air. You expect he thought you were going to tell him to stop, and he was mildly right. Had it been anyone else you’d do your damnest to convince them that not only a stupid idea, but that it was best to let things in the past lie. But the thing is, after the shit you’ve gone through, after all the people you willfully put yourself on their shit list, you knew the man too damn well to say anything along those lines. “Just promise you’ll get back? I’m no physicist but even _I_ know that crossing dimensions tends to…”

You trailed off, trying to find the words before looking up at him again, “…be woefully lacking in the chances of getting back. And I just got you, it would really really really suck if I lost you.”

“You are disgustingly attached.”

You shrugged, “You’re going to have to deal with that I’m afraid. Ball of possession right here, just call me Anakin Skywalker.”

He sighed, “I promise that I will take every precaution. I _am_ going back as soon as I beat the pharaoh.”

“You know technically,” You smiled. “If Yugi beat the pharaoh, then that _does_ make him the King of Games. So you’d have to come back to me regardless if you beat the pharaoh or not.”

“Of course,” Kaiba narrowed his eyes. “I still need to beat _you._ ”

You snorted, a surprised bout of laughter escaping you as you guffawed and gripped the table, “Oh my _fuck_ you’re still pissed about that.”

The crackle of thunder flashed and shuddered somewhere outside. Rattling in your ears as you tried your best to calm down after _that_ declaration. It was comforting in a way, finding out that you were one of the people Kaiba had an obsession ( _Because yeah Seto, that’s an obsession problem you have)_ with beating a certain set of people. You vaguely wondered if Yugi or the no-named Pharaoh had ever shared your mild amusement at the whole thing. You knew for a fact that Yugi often huffed and puffed about it for the image, but it was just that. Posturing, he wouldn’t have nearly enjoyed himself during their little duels otherwise.

Kaiba’s phone buzzed, distracting you from your little introspection as he went to check it. A scowl set automatically on his face.

It was still disturbingly handsome but you weren’t going to tell him anything remotely close to the sort, as it was his ego might not get through the elevator.

“I need to go to the office.”

You bowed your head, putting down the fork, “As you wish.”

As you walked out with him, the bill already paid for much to his irritation, you contemplated what you were going to do once you were behind his office door. But while in the privacy of your mind, you smiled. Because it seemed he hadn’t quite caught that reference.

Had you been anyone else, you would have gagged at the level of cheese.

Mokuba watched the two of you interact, his big brother saying stuff before you replied. Quickly and sometimes seriously but not quite at the same level his big brother often did, then he watched as you bowed your head.

“As you wish,” You replied to whatever his big brother said. Watching the taller of all of you leave with mild interest before catching Mokuba’s eye. “Yes?”

“You’re so cheesy,” He teased, to which you smiled at him.

“Well if he doesn’t know…” You trailed off, leaning back and folding your fingers together like some sort of supervillain. The thunder clapping again as the storm fully settled into Domino City, lightning flashing across your face ominously. “That’s just unfortunate.”

“You guys are cheesy and totally have no idea what you’re doing,” Mokuba said with a Cheshire grin, folding his arms in a way only haughty little brothers could. “I’m _telling_.”

“Hm,” You said with a smirk, tilting your head just so. “I suppose I should also tell him that you didn’t get in till 4 in the morning last night hm?”

Mokuba blinked.

And blinked again.

Scowling not unlike his brother, Mokuba pointed an accusing finger at your own version of a Cheshire grin. Steadily glowing pink as he flushed, “You are _evil_.”

“Well how else can I keep my tabs on some of my favorite people?” You drawled, flapping your hand to the side. “I might have gotten rid of the majority but there are still unsavory people out there you know.”

“Yeah- Seto told me, thanks for that.”

Your shoulders rolled, laxing into the plush couch behind you out of habit. Avoiding the statement all together as you thought about things amuse yourself.

Though all things considered, you supposed it was logical to assume that _you_ would now be a target of kidnappings.

You snorted to yourself, well _that_ was going to be interesting.

For you anyway.

* * *

 

Your first kidnapping experience was frankly boring.

Well not your _first_ first kidnapping experience, that honor fell to one Maximillion Pegasus, no you were talking about your first kidnapping due to association with Seto Kaiba.

So it was your first kidnapping, and you were disappointed.

Speaking in hindsight, it really wasn’t their fault they sucked so bad. For one- you weren’t exactly an average High School Student. An average high school student would be panicking and doing their level best not to die. No, you were a high school student who had a paranoid asshole in the form of your older sister and a prissy but also kinda scary when genuinely pissed boyfriend and his terror brother.

As well as Anguis Shinku.

Anguis liked to huff and puff about how _weird_ you were but in reality, he wouldn’t be hanging out with you if he wasn’t _just as weird._ Granted he kept it lowkey better than you could ever do so, but he wouldn’t have tolerated you if he didn’t have _some_ modicum of weirdness in his veins. Not that he would ever admit it and you would never try to goad him into revealing it. He liked his little secrets and you were content to let him think he held them close. You just liked knowing these things about people, makes great potential for black mail and/or just a fun fact about a friend. 

But the first thing you noticed, even before the two of you had actually started interacting and being friends was that Anguis Shinku had times where he was a different person entirely.

Oh he was good at hiding it, and it really only came out when he was stressed out to _hell_ and had no other choice. But it existed, it was there, and it was just about the prissiest little shit that could ever exist when it did come out. It was tenacious, it was angry, and it knew how to fight back. You supposed that was why Anguis never actually felt the urge to fight back when he was bullied; or never really got angry when it happened to him in particular. It would be like a hitman going up against a bunch of kids playing cops and robbers.

Really, the most entertaining part of it was when Seto Kaiba tailed right behind the angry red-head. Carmine eyes set ablaze and face pulled into a severe frown.

You fondly called it Anguis’ _Dragon Mode,_ and really that was only so you could start calling this part of his personality the Crimson Dragon.

Because it was corny as hell and you knew Anguis would’ve hated it on principle if he ever found out.

Regardless, as the kidnappers were understandably trying to wrap their heads around the fact that you weren’t A) Begging for your life B) Panicking in any way, shape, or form and C) Seemed overall indifferent to the entire situation, which in all fairness to you- they hit you _really hard_ in the head. So all could _actually do_ was watch as they panicked at the sound of the wooden doors of whatever safehouse they managed to get themselves fractured open. Their hands stupidly going to their guns and waving it around like a bunch of incompetent extras in a low-budget action film. Seriously, you were more afraid of an accidental gunshot at this point and you were _concussed, sleep deprived,_ and _trying_ to focus your efforts to keeping your wits about you during what was essentially an extended hostage situation.

Splintered wood flying through the air with a vicious and very firm kick from one Anguis Shinku, Crimson Dragon mode. With Seto Kaiba not far behind.

The two of them strode past kidnappers, removing them one by one as they passed. Your own form was slumped in a chair in the farthest corner of the room from the door. Not that it would do much, by the time they were halfway across the room you had already used their distraction to your advantage and cut yourself free from the ropes with a box cutter you nicked right before you were set in your little time-out zone. Office supplies were the unsung heroes of utility. Though you supposed being handcuffed would’ve been a little easier, a paperclip is much easier to hide than a boxcutter.

So you slumped your weight on your knees as they approached, smiling broadly at them. “Hi.”

Then you realized something, and tilted your head. Eyes narrowing at Kaiba while he stood next to the blank looking red-head next to him.

“Did you _chip me_?”

“Shut up,” Kaiba growled. “You would’ve done the same thing given the chance.”

“I certainly would’ve been more subtle about it,” You shot back, crossing your hands. “I’ll have you know that I’m now only gonna use that phone to watch porn. I’ve decided.”

The Crimson dragon scrunched his nose and turned, “I’m leaving.”

“As if that actually matters,” Kaiba argued back, turning around and starting the walk back from wherever the hell you were without waiting for you. The dick.

“Of course it matters,” You yelled back, discarding the boxcutter to the side and bounding to catch up with the taller man. “You’re gonna get a history of my shit and you ain’t gonna like it. But whatever, it’s not like you care that much. Hey- can you hold this for me?”

He didn’t stop walking but he did hold a hand out expectantly.

“Thanks,” You replied, pressing your closed palm to his hand before threading your fingers through his, squeezing slightly. Letting fall and swing between the two of you, the rush of adrenaline leaving with it and leaving you with a sort of bone tired-ness that took its chance to settle within your mind. Staying alert for almost two days was no easy feat with slight trauma. 

You blinked at the lights outside.

_“When the fuck was I taken to Shinjuku?!”_

Kaiba gave you a perplexed look- okay, it was actually blank but your general rule for the _‘are you a fucking idiot’_ face was that it almost _always_ translated into perplexed. That was the rule; you were going to stick with it. You needed sleep, and probably a doctor.

You shrugged at him, “They had me blind-folded, I’m good- but I’m not _being able to tell that we were going to a completely different prefecture_ good. Who am I? Sherlock Holmes? That’s hardly realistic Seto.”

“Knowing you, the realistic is somehow _always_ the impossible.” Kaiba drawled, rolling his eyes. “I don’t understand why you’re so calm about this. There were _guns_ this time, you could have _died_.”

“Well yeah- _I_ get that,” You pointed out, blinking as your brain caught up to the fact that you were- in fact- genuinely pointing. Shifting that finger to point at yourself, “But my currently maybe concussed and sleep-deprived brain doesn’t.”

Anguis- who had been so far ahead you weren’t even sure _how_ he was able to hear you, and Kaiba both snapped their heads in your direction. Eyes narrowing simultaneously to the point where you briefly wondered if the two had _practiced_ it while you were gone. It was entirely possible, you weren’t certain of how long you were _actually_ gone.

_The combined powers of Seto Kaiba and Anguis Shinku. It will be the end of independent nations as we know it._

_Anti-corporation people would get so mad. Then feel guilty because Anguis Shinku will make it so while Kaiba is busy browbeating countries into submission._

_That might actually be fun._

_In the Kaiba-nation we do not murder, we brutally beat each other into submission via dueling. Wealth and power are determined by dueling prowess. All will bow before the mighty Seto Kaiba. Mwahahahahaha. Gamers rise!_

_The valiant Yugi will argue and duel Kaiba into submission until he turns the world back to how it was before. Pffff-_

On the outside, you snorted. Attention resurfaced just barely in time to catch Kaiba’s incredulous _‘Concussed?’_ hissed under his breath. While the Crimson Dragon was stomping his way over with a barely controlled snarl on his face while he talked to someone on the phone.

“Did you know bees don’t have lungs?” You said seriously, following Kaiba as he dragged you along where ever. “They breathe through there- there-“

“I’m using the wrong there,” You grumbled with a growl. “I mean- _their._ They breath with _their_ uh-“

“Spiracles.”

“Right! Spiracles! Cause they don’t have lungs. There- _I used the wrong there again-_ They’re not related to us squishy things except _waaaay faaaaaar baaaack._ And it brings it _directly_ to their tissues and muscles! Don’t gotta go through all this free-way and street bullshit. Just- right there. Oof, here’s ur oxygen! I’mma yeet now byeee.”

If there were anyone staring at the rambling teen getting dragged across the street to a hospital by a billionaire and a teenager with an angry disposition and bright red hair- they attributed it to the fact that the bumbling English speaking fool was American and looked the slightest bit drunk. It explained everything, _and_ it also gave them just cause to take in the absolutely seething look the billionaire had and _turn the fuck around_ and mind their own business.

* * *

_A/n: Hi, long time no see. I'm no longer a senior and I'm starting college in the fall. Hoe boi._

_Eheh, anyway, with all the stuff that's been happening and the upcoming trip out of the country in two weeks; life has been super busy. To be quite frank, this was done ages ago but I hadn't gotten the opportunity to post it until now. So yeah, super long update that is riddled with Star Wars jokes as per the influence of a resurgence of the Star Wars obsession in my rotation of fandoms._

_Seriously, there are things written. In notebooks. I'm not gonna start a fic on it officially but damn do I want to. Tho the main reason I'm NOT lies solely in the fact that I know it wouldn't go anywhere so at best it's just gonna end up a one shot._

_So yeah. Here's to me being in a slightly better place? I confessed to the person I've had a crush on for 3+ years so I could get it over with and get properly rejected, cause leaving things hanging was putting me in more stress than I honestly need. I don't really do emotions that well so I've formally asked that they just ignore it existed after I put it out there, since it was kind of a no-hope case on the get go anyway. I figure it's kinda strange to some people because people I've discussed about this IRL seemed a little taken aback at A) how well i've hid it for 3 years and B) how accepting I was at the fact that it wasn't gonna go anywhere. It was early in the morning (3am) when I did it and there's just been kind of a relief I suppose, not happiness per say but kind of "well I don't gotta worry about this anymore" type of feeling. I'm not really sad about it either, i'm just curious about it in a more observing stand-point. A lot of people seemed shook and reevaluated my actions for the past 3 years with that angle in mind, and I'm amused about it. Goes to show that humans really are a complex ball of emotions. Though I'm glad everyone is treating it so cooly since I'm pretty sure She (said crush is a she as far as I know) didn't seem to even anticipate the potential in the first place and doesn't seem to act too different about it (due to Summer and the fact that I'm a goddamn cryptid I don't usually go out with anyone but family) though this could also be because we haven't seen each other in person since graduation, though the text seems normal._

_Emotional compartmentalizing is apparently an actual thing and I am my own proof of it._

_Maybe I should get into acting, lol._

_Anyway- enough about my rambling~_

_**Dedications to:** _

_**Gale:**  I'm glad you were surprised! I'm kinda hoping that the twist made sense since I planned that twist when I first conceived this story idea. I'm hoping the small hints I dropped back in the previous chapters were adequate but I'm glad you enjoyed it? Thanks for reading!_

**_6f0909:_ ** _That is on the horizon! Not to worry! ALso yeah, while I believe I met potentials I don't really believe I've met THAT friend yet. The friends I have now, I generally care about, but I've always been good at hiding the way I get depressed and usually do it in private so no one really anticipates it I think. I just kinda go into bouts of emotional panic that I rant about and ease out myself after like- 20 minutes. I've just gotten used to taking care of it myself I suppose, while my parents aren't abusive by any means, I just think they don't quite understand emotions as I have them. Whenever I cried as a kid (due to being upset generally) I was immediately told to stop crying in a harsh manner (just in tone and only once, nothing actually happened and I was talked to calmly after with them explaining themselves and giving me an opportunity to talk about it) it just lead to me kind of not expressing sadness to anyone anymore. Which is lemme tell ya, a little strange when everyone in graduation was kinda slightly sobbing and I was just there like "!! We graduate!! Woaaaaah!" which I guess is also why I don't give off the aura that I'm a depressed person or a person capable of being depressed, I've been told I give off the impression of having my life handled, but that's probably because I have a habit of just thinking of the now and accepting things as they happen (finals, tests, and presentations were honestly not that big of a stressor for me because of this). Though I do make a point to say that I'm actually just constantly in a state of calm via constant anxiety combined with 'well shit' mood. Anakin Skywalker, Tony Stark, and other characters have always been my favorites purely for the "WELP I GUESS WE'RE DEALING WITH THIS SHIT NOW' moods they give out. Senior year went well, I'm proud to say I passed with A's in all classes, which is more than I could hope for. SO yeah! Hope yours well too! Sorry for the huge ass response ^^' And thanks for reading!_

**_HibiscusMist:_ ** _Thanks very much! Honestly, this story isn't as planned out as some of my other ones (The Silence always had a set ending, this one doesn't...) And thank you, part of the irony is that I really like  things that are too salty for some lol so them readers tears are quite good indeed. THank you for reading!_

**_Dianasaurus94:_ ** _Yep, and wow- the emojis are showing up too. And no that isn't the last moment but Reader has fond memories of getting their ass kicked with Kisa's deck! Also I quickly fixed the date issue as soon as I read your comment so thank you for that! Here's hoping I get it right time ;) Thanks for reading!_

**_You the Reader:_ ** _Thanks for reading and have a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night!_


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